


Blended Dreams

by Vaengir



Category: Naruto
Genre: Catching Your Breath, Deja vu No Jutsu, Dreaming of Sunshine - Freeform, Inoue Shiori - Freeform, Iryo-nin Kasa, Multi-SI crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2018-11-18 12:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11291127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaengir/pseuds/Vaengir
Summary: Dreams differ from person to person, but what happens when five dreams blend into one? The result? Deja vu: Catching Medics and Sunshine in a Tea House. Reincarnation is overrated. (Mass SI crossover)





	1. Catching a Sense of Déjà vu (Kei)

**Author's Note:**

> I've been itching to do this crossover for ages since I got the a-okay from the original SI writers. Thanks again to all of them for letting me use their babies! In order of the SI's ages, the stories being crossed over are:
> 
> Déjà vu no Jutsu by Vixen Tail (Natsumi Nara)
> 
> Catch Your Breath by Lang Noi (Keisuke Gekko)
> 
> Inoue Shiori by Hermionechan90 (Inoue Shiori)
> 
> Iryo-nin Kasa by Vaengir (Kasa Mon)
> 
> Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen (Shikako Nara)

Things were different. At first, Kei thought her presence may have somehow caused the change. However, as time passed she quickly realized her existence couldn't have incited such a ripple effect. She alone couldn't have possibly caused the change in the Academy standards or the Academy reform as she heard some of their senseis mention in passing. It was rather surprising how much they let slip when they think their students weren't paying attention.

Classes were more or less the same for both civilian and clan children with no glaring differences in course load. The exception lied in the clan children that had the benefit of early exposure from their families. It used to be common for those children to out-perform their peers and graduate early, but somehow that practice was all but abandoned.

Kei frowned as she eyed her newly graduated silver-haired classmate, Kakashi Hatake. If memory served her right, he should have left the Academy by the age of six. Yet, here he was nine years in age. He couldn't have possibly gotten left back for grades or performance. Kakashi scored top marks in every subject and was touted as one of the best in their year.

So, why was his graduation delayed until now?

"Kakashi-kun is amazing isn't he?" whispered Rin quietly as the brunette shot her a grin.

"If you say so," replied Kei offhandedly as she turned her attention elsewhere.

To strangers, her casual dismissal might have seemed cold and aloof, maybe even off putting to some. It made it easier to keep people at a distance, especially when it came to disillusioned fan-girls who were more interested in novel-like romance than becoming a kunoichi. She supposed it couldn't be helped when the terrors of war were so far from home.

She has to admit the fan-girl issue hadn't been as bad as she expected. True, there were still the gaggle of girls who still swooned over geniuses like Kakashi, but their senseis were quick to circumvent it before it grew disruptive. Still, Kei kept her distance. She had better things to worry about than petty schoolyard hierarchy.

"Just you watch Kakashi! I'll catch up to you soon!" declared Obito loudly over the chattering crowd.

Kei bit back a sigh when she caught sight of the rowdy Uchiha. She had her work cut out for her if she wanted to ensure Obito don't get caught up in Madara's lies and cause the Fourth Shinobi War. Albeit they haven't even gone into the third one yet, she rather not face an absurdly powerful grief-stricken Obito.

The next time she encountered Kakashi was nearly two years later when she graduated from the Academy with Obito and were assigned to Team Minato.

"…You're a girl?" stated Kakashi in a deadpan. The silver-haired shinobi was not amused by the draw of his new teammates.

"Bastard! Of course Kei is a girl!" snapped Obito agitatedly.

Confusion over her gender was getting old. Did she really look that much like a boy? Kei did what she could to ignore the squabble and dismiss the obvious slight to her person. It was obvious Kakashi aimed to irritate them to get a better sense of who they were.

The bell test came and went. Neither she nor Obito fell for the test's ruse. She had the advantage of foreknowledge and Obito was loyal to a fault. Kakashi would not be failed regardless of their performance so it mattered little.

All in all, Minato's Team Seven became a reality with Rin replaced by Kei. The brunette iryo-nin received an apprenticeship instead in the hospital with Yamaguchi sensei. Despite the changes, things seemed to move relatively smooth. D-ranks, C-ranks, the mission with the Chinatsugumi clan…

Okay, maybe the last one wasn't as smooth as she liked. Who could blame her? It wasn't every day someone reincarnated into a world that held characters she created another lifetime ago. However, she digress. Aside from the Chinatsugumi, something else was strange.

Kakashi, while he was still his prickly self, was different from what she remembered. His daily interactions with Minato and his interactions with Kushina when she was introduced to Team Seven, somehow they seemed warmer than she expected. Shouldn't Kakashi have some sort of loner complex from his father's death?

For a time, the question riddled Kei's mind and more seemed to follow as Kakashi acted less and less compared what she expected. She had half a mind to wonder if her precognition was nothing more than a delusion until Team Seven finally met… Kakashi's family?

"Kashi-ni!" giggled a silver-haired little girl as she tackled her stoic teammate at the door.

"Midori," sighed Kakashi as he hauled the two-year-old into his arms. "Where's mom?"

"With Natsu-nee!" answered the girl cheerily.

"So she's here. Good, I need to talk to Natsu-nee anyway," continued Kakashi as he slipped off his shoes at the genkan and walked into the house.

A mother and two sisters? Kei's brows furrowed in thought. This was different.

"W-wait! Kakashi has a little sister?" yelped Obito in surprise as he pointed to the little girl in his teammate's arms.

"Problem?" droned Kakashi in a deadpan as he glanced back to him.

"S-she's," spluttered Obito before he turned to Kei. "I'm not seeing things right? She's normal!"

"What did you expect?" frowned Kei in confusion.

"I don't know… Grumpy? Mask-wearing? A bit of an as—" started Obito, but halted at the sudden flare of killing intent.

"Finish that in front of my sister," dared Kakashi with a glare.

"Kei," said Obito as he turned to her for help.

"Don't look at me, I have nothing to do with this," said Kei with her hands up defensively.

"Kei!" whined the Uchiha pathetically.

"What's all this ruckus about?" sighed an exasperated woman.

Kei nearly flinched at her sudden appearance. When did she approach them? Why couldn't she sense her? And more importantly, who was she?

"Natsu-nee," greeted Kakashi as he glanced up to the woman.

"Another sister?" murmured Obito in surprise before Kei promptly smacked him upside the head to silence him.

From what she could see, the woman wasn't blood related to Kakashi. She didn't share the face structure nor the ethereal silver hair atop Kakashi and the younger Hatake's head. Her hair was a rather common shade of brown. However, what was most notable were her mismatching blue and green eyes, an uncommon sight even in a world with dojutsu users.

"Not going to introduce us?" teased the woman as she ruffled Kakashi's hair.

"Don't see why I have to," grumbled Kakashi, but at a glance from the older woman, he sighed and nodded his head to his teammates. "Fine, Obito Uchiha, Keisuke Gekko, meet Natsumi Nara, wife of the Nara Clan Head. Otherwise known as Natsu-nee, my sister by a convoluted ninja family tree."

Kei fought to keep the confusion off her face as she studied the woman. Aside from Shikamaru and his father, she couldn't recall much about the Nara Clan. However, she was quite certain the mother and wife of the lazy intellect clan didn't have Natsumi's unique features.

This woman was an anomaly just like her. Kei wasn't going insane. Her precognition wasn't wrong. She must have caused all the differences. The changes in the Academy, Kakashi's disposition and who knows what else. Natsumi was definitely on the side of Konoha and its people, Kei was certain of this fact. However, where does she stand in regards to individuals like themselves?

"Yo," greeted Natsumi with a grin. "You looked like you've seen a ghost. I'm not that scary am I?"

…One way to find out she supposed.

"Natsumi-san," started Kei quietly as she looked deep into the woman's mismatched eyes. "Have you ever gotten the sense of déjà vu?"

 


	2. Girl Talk (Natsumi)

 

Ever since the alteration with Orochimaru, Natsumi kept a close eye on the Academy. While the snake sannin was no longer a threat, it didn't mean there weren't other dangers hidden in the village. After all, what was a shinobi village without its inner turmoil?

…Right. Natsumi scoffed at the thought as she went through the Academy's newest batch of graduates. Officially, she had no say in regards to team allocations. Unofficially, she could put in a suggestion or two for who she thought was a good match. Hence, why Minato has a hold of Kakashi instead of some other random jounin.

When Natsumi first spotted Keisuke Gekko, something about the androgynous girl felt off. She wasn't sure what about the girl bothered her, but she knew better than to ignore gut instincts when it reared its ugly head.

On paper, Keisuke or Kei, as her peers call her, appeared to be slightly above average. Not in a manner that stood out, but enough to keep her from getting lost in the slew of civilian born children. Aside from the bit of dabbling in iryo-ninjutsu, her overall skills were well-rounded with a minor deficiency in strength and stamina. However, that could be attributed to her age.

All in all, if the assassin didn't know better, she'd assume Kei was aiming for an ANBU recruitment after her Academy graduation. Natsumi was the last person ANBU recruited straight out of the Academy. There hasn't been another like her since. Nowadays, ANBU recruitment was done from well-established shinobi on the jounin track. Preferably, ones who have a number of kills under their belts if possible.

While the Academy do desensitize potential graduates to the idea of murder and bloodshed, it was still considered a squeamish matter until after the first official kill. ANBU simply didn't have enough time to coddle new recruits until they were comfortable with the idea of death and murder.

However, it didn't seem like Kei was aware of ANBU's recruitment methods. She appeared to maintain her current class standing for the sake of Obito Uchiha. Natsumi toyed with the possibility the girl may have an infatuation with the Uchiha boy, but she dismissed the thought almost as quickly as it came.

From what she noticed, Kei was calm and analytical. Whether it was due to practicality or disinterest, the girl never bothered with the daily squabbling of her love-struck classmates. She wasn't interested in Obito in that manner, but then… why would she…

"Senpai?" Minato's voice drew her out of her musings as she directed her duo-colored eyes to him.

"What?" She acknowledged him before he shot her a pleasantly warm smile.

"Just wondering what could get your brows furrowed like that," commented the blond in amusement.

"I'm looking over potential teammates for Kakashi," answered the woman with a dismissal wave.

"I thought you had two in mind already," said Minato in surprise as he glanced down at the files on the mahogany coffee table she carved for the love-birds.

"I do," breathed Natsumi in agreement as she thumbed through Kei's file once more. "But I'm thinking of changing one of them."

"Oh?" noted Minato with interest.

"Both of them have medic potential, but the second one would be more versatile on the field," reasoned Natsumi.

"Less of a liability," agreed Minato. "But, you're not entirely convinced."

"There's… something strange about this one," muttered Natsumi with a frown.

"Strange how?" asked Minato.

"It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't seem to catch it," said the assassin as she drummed her fingers against the file.

"Don't you think you're obsessing too much about this?" called out Kushina from the kitchen. "Or is it because Kakashi's involved that you're letting your overprotective side go wild?"

"Overprotective?" noted Natsumi with a raised brow.

"Senpai, we know how you can get when it comes to people you care about," teased Minato as he moved to set the table.

"Oh?" hummed Natsumi as she waved an idly hand towards the file. "Then maybe you would like to choose the third student yourself?"

"I trust your judgment," chirped Minato from the dining table.

"Lazy ass," muttered the assassin under her breath as she gave the files another glance.

While Rin was trustworthy, Tobi's surfacing at her possible death was not worth the risk. At least with Kei, she could probably kill the girl if she became a threat. Worst case scenario, Minato would get angry at her for killing his student, but it was the safer alternative. Natsumi paused at the thought as she flipped the file close.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions," muttered the assassin under her breath as she took a steady breath to clear her thoughts. Kushina may be right about her overprotectiveness getting the better of her. If she went about killing every threat in sight, Konoha would be drenched in blood.

"You said something senpai?" asked Minato as he tilted his head back to glance at her.

"I hope you've brushed up on your bukijutsu," commented Natsumi as she changed topics fluidly.

"A weapon user?" questioned Minato.

"Possibly of the kenjutsu branch," amended Natsumi.

"Now you're just cruel," protested the blond. "I have to deal with another person trying to stab me on top of Kakashi?"

"If it makes you feel any better, you're going to get an Uchiha as well," grinned Natsumi.

"Stabbed _and_ roasted," continued Minato. "If I didn't know any better, I think you're trying to cook me senpai."

"You'll do fine," waved off Natsumi in amusement. "From what I've seen Obito acts more like Kushina than an Uchiha."

"Is that supposed to be reassuring?" asked Minato with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sure hime would agree with me," chirped Natsumi as she propped up her elbows on the table and folded her hands under her chin.

"Minato, you know you can't win against her when she sets her mind on it," giggled Kushina as she walked out with several plates balanced on her arms.

"Guess not," sighed Minato airily as he moved to help Kushina with her load. "Hopefully, Kakashi will be able to get along with them."

"Probably won't at first, but I'm sure he'll warm up to them eventually," noted Natsumi.

Her uncertainty on Kei hasn't subsided, but if Obito was anything like what she remembered, he had a way to draw people in. If he could do so with Kakashi, a wild card like Kei shouldn't be too much of an issue.

* * *

Worry got the better of the assassin and Natsumi found herself shadowing Team Minato's first meeting. As predicted, Kakashi and Obito didn't get along immediately. However, her attention was on the sole female member on the team, a budding sensor. While she was unable to pinpoint Kakashi's exact location, she felt his presence.

Compared to her, Kakashi was a novice in concealment. The assassin had the advantage in years of service in ANBU. He still had some years before he could reach her level. Even so, the more she learned of the girl, the more suspicious she became. No doubt Kei knew of Kakashi, but unlike Obito she didn't take offense to his cold indifference.

The curse of natural-born geniuses, they had the bad habit of looking down on everyone who didn't match their intellect. Natsumi made it a regular habit to knock her pseudo little brother off his pedestal every now and then to teach him humility, but there was only so much she could do on her lonesome. Kei seemed to take his genius in stride and ignore his bouts of arrogance. Though, it seemed to be more out of exasperation than anything else.

Natsumi stayed through Minato's bell exam before she was satisfied with her observations. She still had doubts on Kei. Suspicions or not, until the androgynous girl does something otherwise she was a suitable replacement for Rin.

* * *

In the year Minato ran his team through D-ranks, Natsumi heard plenty about the students she chose for her kohai through Kakashi. The majority of his recounts were grips about his Uchiha teammate's failings, but the rare few times he spoke of Kei, she heard only grudging respect.

Between Inoichi's psyche evaluations and Minato's close scrutiny for sleeper or coercion seals, the androgynous girl was clean. If this was a typical ANBU investigation, this would have cleared Kei of all suspicions.

"Natsu, why did you pick her if you're going to stress yourself out over this?" sighed Shikaku in exasperation as he poured himself another cup of sake.

"This is not stress dear husband of mine," drawled Natsumi as picked at her food.

"Then why aren't you eating?" noted the Nara dryly.

"I haven't lost weight if that's what you're worried about," scoffed Natsumi as she forced herself to take a bite.

"It'd be easier if you talked to the girl directly instead of lurking in the shadows," noted Shikaku with an amused grin against his glass. "But I supposed you are living up to the Nara name."

Natsumi rolled her eyes as she went back to her dinner. The difficulty she had in reading the girl was both a good and bad thing. Good, because if ever she was kidnapped, it was unlikely the enemy would be able to force information out of her. Bad, because Natsumi wasn't sure if she could trust her.

However, her husband did have a point. Instead of speculating what ifs, it would be easier to confront girl directly and see what exactly about Keisuke Gekko sent off alarms in her mind.

Except…

Natsumi's chopsticks stilled again. The situation in Iwa was worsening. No doubt, she along with Minato would be among those to be sent if the situation called for it. What's most concerning, she already sent Jiraiya-sensei to Amegakure about the assassination threat to Akatsuki in ANBU's mission request log.

If Kei turned out to be a danger to Kakashi and everyone she cared about, she won't even have him to fall back on to keep an eye on Konoha until she came back.

"Natsu?" called out Shikaku, his brows furrowed with worry.

"I think I'm going to give Eri kaa-san a visit soon," commented Natsumi.

"Oh?" noted Shikaku with a raised brow.

"A good daughter should always visit their parents every now and then," chirped Natsumi pleasantly.

Shikaku allowed his gaze to linger on his wife for a moment longer. He can't claim he knows about everything that goes about his wife's mind, but from past experience, she was capable of anticipating for the future, long before anyone could realize there was an issue.

"Do as you please," sighed the man in exhaustion.

"When have I done otherwise, dear husband of mine?" grinned Natsumi.

* * *

Whatever Natsumi expected when she finally met Keisuke Gekko was definitely not the question the girl asked upon their first greeting.

"Natsumi-san," started Kei quietly as she stared up at the assassin with determined eyes. "Have you ever gotten the sense of déjà vu?"

"In what way?" continued Natsumi in a pleasant manner, caution still strong in her mind as she studied the girl before her.

"… _Do you_ _ **believe it**_ _?_ " asked the girl with special emphasis in the last words.

Startled, Natsumi couldn't keep the surprise from showing. Of all the things that could have come from Kei, _believe it_ was definitely not one of them. What's more alarming, the stoic-looking girl didn't speak in their native tongue. Instead, the girl spoke in a language the assassin had heard only in her memories.

A look of wonder crossed Kakashi's face, while puzzlement crossed Obito's. Neither of them knew what their teammate said, but both were interested from the older kunoichi's stillness.

"Kei, what did you say?" whispered Obito behind his hand with a confused frown. "Something about donburi?"

"She didn't say donburi you idiot, she said douyu berivu ito," corrected Kakashi.

"…I said neither of those," said the girl flatly before she turned her attention back to the older kunoichi once more. "Natsumi-san, you understood what I said, correct?"

"Ah," agreed the assassin before an amuse snort escaped her. "Pft, douyu…"  
She probably shouldn't have found the boys butchering the language as amusing as she had, but she couldn't help the relief she felt from discovering the truth about Kei. The reason why the girl acted the way she did and the reason why she felt different, it all made sense now. Like her, Kei also have memories from another lifetime.

No doubt, it was the reason why she stuck to Obito all this time. She wanted to stem the possibility of Tobi surfacing and since Natsumi made her Rin's replacement, the possibility of the rogue Uchiha lessened by a large marginal.

"Natsu-nee?" questioned Kakashi with furrowed brows.

"Don't mind me," waved off Natsumi as she propped a hand on her hip. "But I'm going to steal your little teammate for bit if you don't mind."

"What for?" asked Kakashi in confusion.

"Girl talk," replied Kei bluntly.

"…Girl talk," repeated Kakashi in a deadpan.

"Yep, girl talk," chirped Natsumi. "Shall we, Keisuke-kun?"

"Please call me Kei," insisted the girl politely.

Depending on how much memories Kei could recall from her previous life and what direction she's interested influencing Konoha, it was to be determine whether or not Natsumi could trust and rely on the girl. Until then, she will give the girl the benefit of the doubt.

 


	3. Kidnapped (Kei)

 

The conversation with Natsumi Nara was an enlightening experience. Between Kei's inability to sense the older kunoichi's presence and the obvious ease Natsumi had with silencing seals. It was clear the woman was not one to be trifled with. While the two shared a plethora of information between them, it didn't stifled the mutual sense of distrust they had for one another.

"You don't trust me," noted the mismatched-eyed woman.

"Nor you I," countered Kei as she let out a sigh. "Look, we're at an impasse, but we can both agree that neither of us wants harm sensei or Kakashi."

"True," agreed Natsumi civilly as she glanced to the girl. "What do you propose we do to resolve this issue then?"

"You're the one in the advantage," pointed out Kei. "Any negotiations I attempt could be easily override by your experience and your current social standing. There's no point for me to suggest anything."

"Not incorrect," commented Natsumi with a grin. "But I don't believe you're the sort to stand idly by."

Kei said nothing as she stared at the woman before her.

"I admit, I don't trust you completely and I'd be disappointed if you trusted me this easily," continued the woman. "However, I am willing to let you do as you have so far."

"…Why?" frowned Kei in confusion.

"You and I both agree neither of us wish harm on either Minato or Kakashi," explained Natsumi solemnly. "While I have put into motion a series of precautions to protect them to the best of my abilities, I'm only one person."

"You're not worried I might interfere with whatever plans you may have?" asked Kei.

"In short of joining Akatsuki, bringing utter destruction to Konoha or harming/killing those I care about, I can't think of many things that could be considered _interfering,_ " reasoned Natsumi. "After all, this second chance of life is as much as yours as it is mine."

"How… generous," noted Kei cautiously.

"Of course, if you do happen to do any of the three," continued Natsumi darkly. "Be certain your life won't last very long. Are we clear?"

"…Crystal," replied Kei.

"I'm glad we have an agreement," chirped Natsumi pleasantly.

"Anything else?" asked the stoic girl.

"Do keep an eye on Kakashi and Obito," suggested the woman. "They could be a handful at times."

"Of course," agreed Kei, regardless of what the kunoichi requested, she wasn't going to stop caring about her teammates.

All in all, the whole meeting with Natsumi seemed frightfully similar to a father grilling the prom date prior to the pickup of his daughter. An amusing image to behold since Kakashi would be in the position of the girl, but disturbing as well since she still felt Kakashi was too young for such things. Regardless, Natsumi's position was clear.

If she dared to join Akatsuki and use whatever foreknowledge against Konoha, she dies. If she harmed Kakashi either physically or mentally, she dies. If she harmed anyone Natsumi consideredworthy of her protection, she dies. All very simple, but at the same time frighteningly dangerous.

Fortunately, she had no interest in doing anything of the sort. As long as her mother and Hayato were safe, nothing else matters.

"Kei? Everything okay?" asked Kakashi the next day when Team Minato met up at the bridge.

"Just peachy, why?" replied Kei offhandedly as she brushed away the thoughts of the frightening kunoichi from the day before.

"You seemed… a bit quiet, more so than usual. What did you and Natsu-nee talk about?" asked her silver-haired teammate.

"Well, you know, this and that," shrugged the girl casually as she kept the conversation nonchalant. "Girl talk."

"Something happened, tell me," demanded Kakashi.

"No," answered Kei bluntly before the other spluttered indignantly. "This is between me and Natsumi-san. I'd say ask her, but I think you already have and she probably gave you the same answer I have."

"What's so important that both of you are keeping this from me?" glared Kakashi.

"Are you jealous?" smirked Kei as she glanced to him slyly.

"W-what? No!" snapped Kakashi.

"But you are," teased the stoic girl in amusement. "Upset someone has the attention of your Natsu-nee?"

"Don't be ridiculous," growled Kakashi.

"Well, if you really want to know…" started Kei as she kept her gaze on Kakashi's reaction. "Natsumi-san was concern that you brought a girl home so—"

"She did not interrogate you thinking you're my girlfriend," snapped embarrassed teen in denial.

"That's not what I said, but if you think that way…" trailed off Kei purposely to troll her teammate.

"Shut up," groused Kakashi as he decided to end their conversation.

"You're the one who brought it up," grinned Kei as she turned her gaze to the path to the bridge. "Obito's late again."

"He's always late," scoffed Kakashi.

"You know, he's not as bad as you think," countered Kei.

"Until I see otherwise, I stand by my opinion," retorted Kakashi.

"You're going to change your mind one day," sighed Kei as she leaned back against the bridge's railing and stared up at the sky, pensive and solemn. Hopefully, before the faithful day at Kannabi Bridge _._

* * *

Conflict with Iwa worsened and soon enough Minato gained the moniker as the Yellow Flash after decimating their forces on the battlefield. Natsumi along with a large number of Konoha shinobi suffered severe injuries in the skirmish. From what Kei heard, the woman was among the few fortunate to gain full recovery.

Unfortunately, that meant Konoha was shorthanded and understaffed. Missions that were meant for older and more experienced shinobi were left to the younger and less experienced. Those who were in the Academy were protect by Natsumi's Academy Reform protected from early graduation. Those who graduated were sped through promotions to fill in the gap left by the injured forces.

A displeasing fact for Natsumi, that much Kei was certain. However, there was little the woman could do when it came to field promotions. Both Kei and Obito received their rank of chunin while Kakashi sped straight into jounin.

She was certain with the promotions, the fateful day of Kannabi Bridge would come for her team. The inadvertent horrors brought on by Obito's supposed death haunted her dreams almost nightly to the point her existing eye-bags deepened even further.

Except… the mission to Kannabi Bridge wasn't what she expected.

"A retrieval escort mission?" murmured Kei quietly with a frown as she listened to Minato's briefing.

From what her jounin sensei informed them. Another team had taken the mission to destroy Kannabi Bridge. More specifically, a team led by Kakashi's father. It was a cause for alarm. Kei kept silent as she glanced to see Kakashi's reaction to the news.

"…Did the team fail their mission?" asked the newly minted silver-haired jounin quietly.

"On the contrary, they succeeded," answered Minato, but his expression remained solemn. "However, it seemed during the completion of their mission a complication came up. Hence, why we're being sent as backup."

"What sort of complications?" Asked Obito curiously.

"The team encountered an unknown assailant, resulting in severe injuries for all members," continued Minato. "Fortunately, the team survived, but they're in no condition to travel back on their own. Our job is to locate and assist."

Kei could see the relief melt away the tension on Kakashi's shoulders as the silver-hair teen nodded in acknowledgment. Kannabi Bridge and Tobi were no longer an issue, but at the same time it meant neither Obito nor Kakashi would receive the sharingan anytime soon. Kei wasn't sure how to take the change. The Tobi crisis was averted, but without the eye's prowess, would Kakashi be able to complete his ultimate attack, chidori?

The answer…didn't matter.

When Team Minato reached Sakumo, Kei saw first-hand the subtle differences in her stoic Kakashi's normally stiff posture. The short intake of breath, the less tenseness in his shoulders and most importantly the hidden smile behind his mask. Nothing in the world was worth the happiness of her teammate. Seeing how much he cared for Sakumo reminded her how much she missed her own father.

Even so, it didn't distract her from the expert bandaging around Sakumo and his team's injured bodies and the telling signs resulted only from iryo-ninjutsu.

"Hatake-san," started Kei with a cautious frown as she checked over their injuries. "Did your team have an iryo-nin by any chance?"

"Of course they don't," said Obito in confusion as he glanced to his teammate. "Why else would we be needed for backup if—"

Minato planted a hand on the Uchiha's head, effectively silencing him as he glanced to Sakumo with an inquisitive gaze. It didn't take either men long to conclude what Kei observed and the elder Hatake decided to extrapolate.

"The assailant wasn't after us," explained Sakumo. "He was after the child we found shortly after we completed our mission."

"A child?" frowned Minato with furrowed brows. "What was a child doing all the way out here?"

"She got separated from her parents while they were fleeing from Amegakure," continued the silver-haired man grimly. "The two were deserters… no doubt, she would be used to set an example if she was taken back to Amegakure. Hanzo's not known to be kind towards traitors."

"You broke protocol?" said Kakashi in surprise.

"The girl wasn't that much older than Midori," stated Sakumo as he glanced to his son. Kakashi grimaced as he lowered his gaze.

Kei frowned as she pieced together the information into a larger picture. Protocol-wise, Sakumo's interference was a political nightmare waiting to happen. There was an unspoken rule between villages that they do not interfere with the proceedings of another village as long as it did not conflict with their own mission. It was bad for business to strike up conflict when it could be easily ignored by turning a blind eye.

However, she could understand Sakumo's standpoint. He was father with a daughter that was relatively close to the girl's age and his parental instinct drove him to protect the child despite not being his own… It still didn't explain the bandages and the medical treatment though.

"So… What happened to the kid?" asked Obito curiously. "Did you guys managed to get her back to her parents somehow?"

"…No," replied Sakumo solemnly. "The assailant was stronger than we expected and the girl was forcibly taken. The injuries we sustained would have killed us, if her father didn't come across us. He healed us in exchange for information regarding to the man who took his daughter."

"Singular," noted Minato, his frown deepened even further. "All this was done by a single man?"

Sakumo gave a silent nod, but something about his gaze hinted there was much more than he could say aloud. Something possibly out of the out of their clearance level.

"It's probably best if we move along," suggested Minato and promptly ended the conversation. Whatever Sakumo left unsaid would have to be given to intelligence when they return to the village. Their priority now was to get Sakumo and his team to safety, anything else was secondary.

… At least until they reached the outpost.

"Sensei? What are you doing here?" noted Minato in surprise at the sight of the white-haired sannin.

"I was in the area," drawled Jiraiya with a wry quirk of his lips.

"In the area…" repeated Minato dryly.

"Just finishing up a favor for neko-chan," quipped Jiraiya with a chuckle.

"And what exactly is that?" questioned Sakumo with a raised brow.

"Yo, Sakumo you look like shit," laughed Jiraiya.

"You don't look any better," scoffed Sakumo in good humor as they exchanged friendly banter. "What did Natsumi ask for you to do?"

"Well, I'm sure you know Minato's little girlfriend's family's been rather small—" started Jiraiya, but stopped when a familiar shade of red crashing out from the nearby medic station.

For a moment, Kei thought Kushina was there, but then she noticed the subtle differences in age and facial features on the woman's face.

"Tesuri!" screamed the red-haired kunoichi. She stumbled towards them in distraught, loose bandages hung fluttered behind her as a flustered iryo-nin tried to restrain her.

"Somoku!" called out Jiraiya as he broke away from his conversation with his friend and student.

"Where is Tesuri?" snapped the woman as she ignored the sannin and lunged straight for Sakumo. She managed to grab a handful of the front of his shirt before she shook him frantically. "I know you met him! I can feel residuals of his chakra in you! Where is he? Where's my baby girl?"

"Get off my father!" snapped Kakashi as he moved to subdue the woman, but paused at the raise of his father's hand.

"Your daughter was taken," replied Sakumo calmly as to not aggravate the woman further. "Tesuri went after the man who took her."

"Someone took...Who?" demanded Somoku as he grip tightened on his shirt. "Who the hell took my baby?"

"Somoku, calm down," said Jiraiya as he tried to ease the woman away from Sakumo.

"How could I stay calm knowing my daughter and my husband could be in trouble?" snapped the woman, desperation clear on her face. "Tesuri is an iryo-nin and my baby's only four! Why do you think I stayed behind in the first place? It's to give them a chance to run! And now you're telling me someone went and kidnapped my daughter?"

"I know, Somoku. I know," said Jiraiya soothingly as he placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "But assaulting Sakumo won't help anyone here and most definitely not your husband and daughter right now."

The red-haired woman look torn at his words, but shook her head fervently to keep herself from breaking down.

"I need to go find them," declared Somoku as she released Sakumo's shirt and moved to leave.

"You're in no condition to be going anywhere," said Jiraiya as he stepped in her path to block her.

"Jiraiya-san, I appreciate all the help you've given me, but I need to find them!" begged Somoku.

"You will die if you go out in your condition," reasoned Jiraiya.

"It's better than sitting here not knowing whether they're dead or alive!" snapped the woman.

"Your daughter was taken not killed. Your husband went to look for her. They're not dead," countered Jiraiya. "If you die now, how do you think they would feel?"

The woman fell silent, inner turmoil clear on her face. Kei could see how desperately she wanted to ignore reason, but eventually logic won out and Somoku stood down from her aggressive stance. Jiraiya managed a few comforting words before she relented and allowed the iryo-nin to drag her back to the medic tent. As she passed, Kei noted the distinctive seals peeking through the bandages on the woman's arms. If she wasn't certain before the woman was an Uzumaki, Kei was damn well certain of it now.

Things were changing at an alarming rate. The Kannabi Bridge crisis was over. Obito and Kakashi were both untouched by the mission. Rin was alive!

By all accounts, Kei should be relieved and happier than ever…but the realist in her argued otherwise. The Uzumaki Clan held a threatening presence to the shinobi world. Whether they were leaders, followers or jinchuriki, they were all dangerous individuals.

Nagato was a prime example of the Uzumaki's power. Albeit he had the rinnegan at his disposal, but nevertheless he managed to round up an alarming band of missing-nin under his command. Karin, who was a follower and a healer was no slouch either. Her Uzumaki vitality aside, her sensor skills was a highly sought after skill for any tracker or hunter-nin teams. Kushina, with her chakra chains had the ability to reign in Kyubi, the strongest biju of the nine.

Not counting Naruto, who was the main character and the chosen child to be the savior of the world, members of the Uzumaki Clan were frightful individuals. There was a reason why Uzushiogakure was destroyed.

From the conversation with Jiraiya earlier, Kei concluded Natsumi requested the sannin to seek out any remaining Uzumakis. While the claim was for Kushina's sake, no doubt she had the same concerns as Kei regarding having volatile Uzumaki clansmen linger in the open where they could easily turn into enemies at a later date.

The fact Jiraiya found Somoku Uzumaki indicated there were still more out there and it didn't help that the woman's child was taken. What was worse, the child was _female_. If whoever took her was desperate enough, once the girl was of child-bearing age they would likely breed her like livestock until they gained a substantial amount of soldiers. Even if they didn't use her as a breeding pig, having her as a possible second Karin wasn't that much better.

"Sensei," started Kei quietly as they made their way back towards Konoha. She and the blond-haired jounin was a short distance behind the group to cover the rear while Kakashi and Obito took point in front.

"Yes?" acknowledged Minato as he turned his attention to his student.

"By all counts, Somoku's daughter is too young to be much use for anyone," reasoned the dark-haired kunoichi with a frown. "However, if we take her Uzumaki heritage into account, the possible reasons for her kidnap are… rather alarming."

"Indeed," agreed Minato quietly. "There's not much we could do for her now. We can only hope Jiraiya sensei could help her find the girl before anything bad happens."

The thought didn't comfort Kei in the least, but her sensei was right. There wasn't much any of them could do at this point. They could only hope and wait... Except, the waiting was a luxury she couldn't afford.

"Kei!" shouted Kakashi, but his warning came too late.

The last thing she saw was Kakashi's concerned face before the world turned dark. Kannabi Bridge may had been over, but the crisis regarding the three-tails was far from it. While Rin was safe because Kei took her placement in Team Minato, it didn't mean Kiri's kidnapping plans ended. It just meant their target was her instead of Rin. Kei cursed inwardly at her own carelessness, just because Tobi was no longer a threat, didn't mean everything else was the same.

"Are the preparation ready?" said one of her captors as she drifted back to consciousness weak and drugged.

Grimly, Kei wondered how things would turn out. They were going to turn her into the three-tails' jinchuriki and send her back to Konoha as a Trojan horse to destroy the village. Unlike Rin, she didn't have the courage to throw away her life so selflessly to save the village, but at the same time, she couldn't let herself be the reason for the death of her family and friends.

What to do? What could she do?

"No! Let me go! I don't want to! No!" screamed a child.

Kei snapped out of her thoughts as she took note of a small child being dragged kicking and screaming at the corner of her eye. With how much sedatives and paralytics they pumped into her body, it made it difficult for Kei to move, much less turn her head to see more of her surroundings. Why were they bringing a child into this? Didn't the sealing of the three-tails involve only one host?

"Stop being difficult!" snapped one of their captors before the sound of the child being slammed into the table next to her reverberated through the room.

"Why don't _you_ stop being difficult and switch places with me?" snapped the girl through a pained grunt. "Let's see how much you like it!"

If the situation wasn't so dire, Kei would snort at the girl's flippant attitude. Does she have a death wish? Regardless what she thought, the struggle didn't last long before the girl was finally restrained and the sealing began. Kei clenched her eyes closed and fought back a blood-curling scream as demonic chakra rushed into her system. The agonizing pain reached into every inch, every nerve in her body. Kei thought she was going to pass out from it all, but somehow she held on.

Absently, Kei wondered if Natsumi created a contingency plan to kill her yet. Getting turned into Trojan horse jinchuriki definitely counted as a threat towards her family and friends. Even so, through the haze of pain, Kei thought she had finally lost her mind. Why was the girl next to her screaming about killing ducks of things?

 


	4. Turfucken (Kasa)

 

"Ngh," groaned Kasa, face against a disgusting wet ground as she struggled to grasp at consciousness.

Her fingers twitched as she did her best to push herself onto her knees, but regretted immediately as pain seared through her forearms. Blue eyes snapped open as she searched for the source of the pain, only to find black seals scarred over her arms.

"Ow..." hissed the red-haired child as she clenched her fists tightly to endure the pain.

Memories of her parents fleeing Amegakure with her in tow rushed back to her as she recalled the when her arms were last bare and without pain. Somoku, her mother, had burned the seals on her arms as —what Kasa assumed—a final act of love... followed by a prompt unknown jutsu that shot her off to who knows where.

"…I want to go home," muttered Kasa pathetically as she pressed her forehead against the ground to push herself to her knees without the use of her arms.

The pain was almost enough to knock her unconscious, but she persevered until she was on her knees and stumbled onto her feet. Cold, tired and utterly lost, she glanced to the sky in hopes to see the position of the sun. If memory served her right, Ame was to the west in the geography of the elemental nations, unless she wanted to get captured, heading that direction would be reckless.

Not to mention, it would be hard for her to survive on her own in this climate. Her best bet was to head east for the Fire Country, but to her misfortune, the sun was directly overhead.

"Great," muttered Kasa under her breath as she took note of her surroundings. Every direction looked the same as the last. "What I wouldn't give for a—"

BOOM!

As though answering her prayers, an explosion ripped through the air and shook the ground she stood on briefly. The girl gave a startled yelp as she caught her footing and glanced towards the source with alarm and disbelief on her face.

"Okay…Not what I expected, but I'm assuming that way is no good," noted Kasa slowly as she turned her heel and walked the opposite direction to the explosion.

Kasa took a deep breath as she did her best to ignore the stinging pain on her arms. She preferred to run for her life if possible, but with her current state, she was lucky to be able to move at all. The distance she managed was negligible at best. From the time she heard the explosion to hasty steps behind her, there was no time allotted for her to hide.

" _Well, it was a good run I suppose, if a bit short,_ " muttered Kasa woefully in her native tongue as she hesitantly turned to face whoever came her way.

Death, pain and torture were among the few things that came to mind when Kasa resigned to her fate. What she didn't expect was a team lead by a silver-haired man with the familiar leaf spiral hitai-ate. She clung to her arms protectively and took a hesitant step back as they stopped in front of her. While Konoha was considered one of the nicer shinobi villages, it meant little during war.

"What's a child doing all the way out here?" murmured the other Konoha-nins before the silver-haired man raised a hand to silence them.

"Hello there," said the man gently as he knelt down to her eye level to not frighten her. "You don't have to be scared of us. We're not going to hurt you."

"I—I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," lied Kasa weakly as she tried to distance herself from them. Not that it mattered. If they wanted to kill her, she was powerless to stop them.

Regardless how nice they were, she cannot forget her parents were not Fire Country natives and more importantly they were missing-nin from an enemy village. She wracked her brain to think of ways to avoid talking about her parents, but her mind came up blank each time she tried. Any excuse would have been better than none. It wasn't until she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder that she realized her body shook in fear and panic.

"It's okay, you don't have to be afraid," said the silver-haired man soothingly before Kasa snapped her attention to his dark eyes. "We're a little concerned since you're all alone out here. Where are your parents?"

"I don't know, we got separated…I'm… alone," Kasa meekly, using the chance to play up the role of a scared child. Not that she needed much help in the scared department. She was plenty scared already.

"What's your name?" asked the man gently after he gave her a moment to gather her thoughts.

"Kasa," mumbled the girl. She viciously stomped down on the bubbling joy that the man didn't ask further about her parentage. Maybe she could make it through this alive.

"Kasa," repeated the man as though testing her name. "Do you want to come back to Konoha with us?"

"Sakumo! You can't be serious!" protested one of his teammates in disbelief.

"You would leave her out here alone?" challenge Sakumo in turn.

Kasa's brows furrowed, something about the man's name sounded familiar, but for the life of her, she couldn't recall why.

"We don't have time—you know what, fine! Do what you want," said the other in exasperation as he threw up his hands in defeat.

"How about it Kasa-chan? Do you want to come back to Konoha with us?" asked Sakumo with a gentle smile.

Kasa stared at him for a long moment uncertain how to take in the situation. It sounded too good to be true. What were the chances she was found when she was lost and given safe passage when she had no means to defend of care for herself. There must be a catch. People weren't naturally this nice…were they?

"…Why are you helping me?" asked Kasa with caution, still unable to accept this strange bout of luck at face value.

"I have a daughter about your age," replied the man congenially. "If it was her lost out here, I would want someone to help her too."

"Oh…" mumbled Kasa, uncertain how else to respond. The man sounded genuine and on her lonesome, she wouldn't last a week. Who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth? Safer to take a chance with the silver-haired man than to risk the unknown alone. "Is she as nice as you?"

"How about you meet her and see for yourself?" A bright smile crossed the man's face as he ruffled her hair fondly. "Midori could always use another friend since her brother's been away on missions."

Kasa found herself liking his smile a lot, though she wondered if this was an early onset of Stockholm Syndrome or a strange case of imprinting; either way, the man felt safe and it was all she cared about after what she's been through. Except, her time with the man end before it even began.

She barely registered the whistle of a kunai flying overhead before Sakumo snatched her from where she stood and shouted for his team to take cover. From when the silver-haired man drew her into his arms, to when he draped his body to cover her from the blast, Kasa didn't have any time to brace herself.

Her ears rung through the explosion and the world spun in her vision. Vaguely, she saw Sakumo shouting to his teammates as he scrambled to his feet. Her body hung limply in his grasp while he evaded an onslaught of attacks. At some point, Kasa found herself snatched from Sakumo's grasp as the mysterious assailant sent what seemed like a flurry of seals at the man and his team.

Kasa watched in morbid fascination as the men writhe with silent screams. Despite the temporary loss of hearing and the sickening bout of disorientation and vertigo, she could still follow the chaos around her. The assailant wasn't after Sakumo and his team. Otherwise, they would be dead the moment he incapacitated them.

No, he was after her…Why? What did she do to garner such attention? She had no clue, but he seemed to be more interested in securing her rather than eliminating potential threats. Dread seeped into her very being as she tried to call out to the only person she could. Unfortunately, the world turned dark before she could.

It took a moment for her to realize she wasn't unconscious. She could still feel the rough fabric against her face where her captor tucked her, the body heat emanating from his body and the dank smell of mold and dirt. They were somehow traveling underground. It was unclear for how long and how far they went in the underside, but when they returned to the surface, the ringing finally stopped and she regained her ability to hear. The thought did not reassure her in the least.

"You're awfully quiet for Somoku's kid," commented her kidnapper.

Kasa flinched at the mention of her mother's name and held her tongue. She had no clue who this man was or what he wanted. As far as she knew, both her parents were probably considered missing-nin for deserting their village.

"Come on, you don't have to be scared. I'm not going to take you back to Ame," sighed the man as he set her down carefully and knelt to her eye-level. "I may not look it, but I'm your uncle of sorts. Your mom and I are cousins… well, sort of. You see we're a bit far removed, but family's family and I'm not the type to abandon them when they're in trouble. So… trust me. I'm going to make sure you get back Somoku okay?"

Kasa shifted uncomfortably as she studied the man before her. The shadows from his hood shrouded his eyes down to the bridge of his nose. His lips were chapped and his deathly pale skin was littered with dry cracks. Clothing-wise, he wore nothing fashioned to Ame's inhabitants. Donned was a generic looking brown cloak and underneath, black shinobi gear with no affiliation of any sort.

Even so, it didn't take away from the familiar carefree smile he gave. It was the same she seen many times before on her mother's face. Gnawing at her lower lip she debated whether or not to trust this stranger. As far as she knew, the destruction of Uzushiogakure dispersed the surviving members of the Uzumaki Clan to the four corners of the world. Those the she could recall from her memories were either already in Konoha or misguided enemies, but all in all, they weren't bad people.

True, the man had attacked Sakumo and his men to kidnap her, but he did it out of familial connection. She couldn't fault him completely for his actions and… he genuinely sounded like he wanted to reunite her with her mother.

Kasa glanced to the man with hesitation before she held her hands to her chest to emulate a vulnerable and timid appearance. Since she couldn't decide on face value on whether or not to trust the man and she had no other options, the best she could do was play along and see what he does.

"Um… okay?" She mumbled meekly as she glanced up at him shyly. "W-what should I call you?"

"Me?" smiled the man as he patted her head fondly. "You can call me Uncle Naki."

"Uncle Naki," repeated the girl as she tried to remember anyone by the name, but her mind came up with blank.

"Come on, let's get going. It's not safe to stay out here for long," said Naki as he hauled her into his arms once more.

The scenery sped past them in a blur. Kasa held onto her self-proclaimed uncle as he took her to the unknown. For several days, everything seemed normal. Naki fed her, housed her and did everything an uncle would do in such a situation. There was no reason to doubt him or his actions. He even went as far as giving her training on the off chance they get separated.

The seals her mother burned onto her arms came to be a very useful training manual as it held much useful information. There were scant few jutsus she could do with her current age and skill level, but the arsenal of seal design and theories were in high abundance and it seemed Naki was quite the seal master.

"Since you're a bit young and on the tiny side, there's not much we could do if someone decides to snatch you up and whisk you away," chuckled Naki sheepishly. "But, you seem to have a pretty good grasp of activating seals even if you can't really draw them."

"Uh…huh…" replied Kasa sullenly.

"Don't look so down," chirped Naki as he ruffled her hair and dropped a small box into her hands. "I got these made for you!"

The girl glanced curiously at the box as she opened to a set of stamps with inverted seal designs. Her eyes widened in surprise as she worked to I.D each seal pattern and what each one did.

"It's only a temporary measure and you still need to make the ink yourself for compatibility, but this should work for now until we figure out how to work around your seal drawing deficien—"

"Thank you!" breathed Kasa as she clenched onto the stamps gratefully. He gave her a fighting chance to survive in this crazy world. Never mind it felt a bit deus ex machine, but there was nothing more she could ask for. She wanted so badly to trust the man that gave so much effort to help her.

Except… she couldn't.

While Naki was nothing but kind to her for the short week she's been with him, it was promptly dismissed and thrown out the window at the sight of a familiar plant-creature melding from the ground.

"I see you've picked up another stray," said the plant-man

Kasa paled as she took a step back. Her eyes drifted to the still figure lugged under the other's arm and she suddenly realized the severity of the situation she was in.

"Ah, no need to be scared Kasa-chan, Zetsu is a friend," said Naki reassuringly as he ruffled her hair, but the once comforting action turned cold. "Did you have much trouble?"

"Not really," replied the plant-man in his distorted voice. "They had Jiraiya the sannin with them, but I was gone before they realize I was in their midst. They had their hands full with the team they were escorting."

"Heh, the look on their faces must've been priceless," laughed Naki, slapping his leg as though it was the funniest thing in the world. "I wish I could've been there to see it!"

"I'm glad you find this hilarious," said Zetsu dryly.

"Of course! It's not every day someone manages to…"

Whatever words the two traded next was drowned out by the blood pounding in her ears and her breath slowly escalating into hyperventilation.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! She was fucked! Naki was on the opposing side, she was taken by the opposing side! Kasa pressed her hands against her mouth as she did her best to calm down, but she couldn't. She was on the wrong side!

"Kasa? Are you okay?" Naki's voice snapped her out of her thoughts when she felt his heavy hands on her shoulders.

"I-I'm," stuttered Kasa as she glanced between his smiling face and Zetsu with his passenger.

"Come on, I told you Zetsu's a friend. You don't have to be scared," said Naki soothingly, but the calmness of his voice did nothing to alleviate her panic.

"I-I know, sorry," amended the girl as she desperately tried to gather herself.

"Zetsu looks a bit scary doesn't he?" chuckled Naki as he ruffled her hair once more. "But don't worry, he's absolutely harmless."

"What about that… boy he's holding? Is he okay?" Kasa couldn't help but ask.

"Him?" thumbed Naki at the unconscious figure in Zetsu's hold. "He's just a little tired and hurt, but we'll fix him up. Zetsu saved him from some bad people, you know."

"I… see," said Kasa with a forced grin.

If not for the plant-man's presence, she might have believed him. He told lies as though they were truths and his smiles felt like it was from his heart. Idly, she wondered if she could flee, but then logic kicked in and she concluded she won't be able to get far.

"Oh… looks like he's actually a she… unexpected," commented Naki offhandedly as he hauled the androgynous girl over his shoulder. "No matter, come along Kasa-chan."

Kasa followed quietly, her eyes darted towards the unknown girl in her captor's hold. Aside from the kunoichi's androgynous appearance, the only other thing notable about the girl was the blue Konoha bandana hitai-ate. From what little she managed to gather from her previous encounters and Naki's exchange with Zetsu she's could barely piece together a cohesive timeline.

After what she's seen, it was clear Naki had no intentions of returning her to her mother. She could see the gears turning in his head with plans on what to do with her for the future. Her only chance now was to play the favored subordinate and hopefully jump ship at the first chance. Except… she sorely overestimated her ability to handle what's to come.

"Uncle Naki… I don't like it here," mumbled the red-haired girl as she shuffled behind him.

With the addition of Zetsu, underground travel had become the go to method for getting around. Even if she wanted to plot an escape, she wouldn't know where to run off to if the chance arose. However, it didn't take a genius to realize where they were with the amount of mist shrouding the area. Nothing good ever came with visiting Kirigakure, their reputation was even worse than the rainy village she came from.

"We won't be here for long," promised Naki. "Just a bit to pick up a pet turtle for our new friend."

Pet… turtle? A cold chill ran up Kasa's spine as realization sunk in. The man was talking about Isobu, the three-tailed turtle bijuu. More alarming, it seemed like he wanted to turn the unconscious girl into a jinchuriki. Kasa frowned at the thought as she glanced to the girl's features once more.

As far as she knew, Isobu had no other Konoha host aside from Rin Nohara. This girl was no Rin and Naki was no Tobi. Not to mention, the encounter she had with Sakumo over a week ago. If this was the Trojan jinchuriki incident with Isobu, the silver-hair man should have been long dead. Yet, he was alive.

Something wasn't right. What could have caused such a jarring difference?

"Kasa-chan!" sung Naki as he snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Y-yes?" stumbled Kasa as she glanced up to him only to realized they had reached what she could describe as a sacrificial platform.

A low table stood at the center before a towering jar strung up by shimenawa ropes and seals. Candles and the like littered around the set up in a circular formation with a number of others standing on the key points integral for the sealing's success.

"You're going to play the most important part in this okay?" chirped the man as he plopped the girl unceremoniously down on the low table.

"What? But I never done this before!" protested the girl.

"You're a natural, you'll do fine," waved off Naki as if having an inexperience child working with dangerous seals was nothing to be concerned over.

"Are the preparations ready?" a soft voice called out as a pink-eyed, grey-haired young man with a stitch scar down his face. A small entourage of shinobi all donning the Kiri hitai-ate trailed after him as made his way towards them.

"Do you doubt me Mizukage-sama?" replied Naki, a hand to his heart in mock-hurt.

"Enough jester, is there a reason for this child to be here?" The man was unamused by Naki's antics.

"Of course!" quipped Naki pleasantly. "You'll need her to active the seals."

"Her?" frowned the pink-eyed man as he glanced to the small girl.

"Someone needs to be a catalyst, unless you would rather do it yourself?" drawled Naki in dark amusement.

"I see…" murmured the man before he glanced to a Kiri-nin behind him.

Kasa's eyes widened when she realized what Naki meant and attempted to run. However, barely two steps into running, she was snatched from the ground and hauled off to the low table next to the girl from Konoha.

"No! Let me go!" shouted the girl as she struggled against the Kiri-nin that held her. "I don't want to do this!"

"I'll leave the rest to you Yagura," said Naki with a flourish bow before he glanced to Kasa with a grin. "Play nice Kasa-chan!

"No!" screamed Kasa as she continued to struggle.

"Stop being difficult," snapped the Kiri-nin as he slammed her into the table.

"Why don't you stop being difficult and switch places with me?" snarled the girl as she winced from the impact. "Let's see how you like it!"

"Quiet!" snapped the Kiri-nin pinning her to the table.

The moment she touched down, the seals beneath them alit. Mentally, Kasa cursed her ability to activate seals at a touch. Red chakra bubbled through the cork lid in the jar in front of the table and snaked its way to her fellow prisoner. A scream ripped from the Konoha-nin's throat as erosive chakra sent her body thrashing in agony. Kasa's breath hitched as she felt her chakra being drained dry by the seals. If it continued, she was certain it will kill her.

She didn't want to die.

She didn't want it to end here.

The glow on the seals dimmed as her chakra waned and she neared death's door. However, before she could step through, the demonic chakra split and latched onto her. She bit back a scream as she felt the chakra burn through her system and creating a feedback loop into the seals beneath them.

"Fuck you and fuck Naki!" screamed Kasa. Her timid façade melted away as anger took over. "I swear to god if I get out of this alive, I'll fucking turn all of you into a ducks, shove a chicken up your asses and shove your heads up a turkey's ass and cook you all into turducken!"

Safe to say, logic no longer took precedence.


	5. Recalibration (Dreamer Kei)

 

Dreamer blinked as the outer world came to view. At her first breath, she noticed the unfamiliar sensation called pain. Her throat was raw, no doubt from Kei's screaming. At her exhale, she realized she had control of the body instead of Kei the dominant personality. Adrenaline pumped through her racing heart as tremors coursed through her body as a numbness reached the tips of her fingers and toes.

This was new, she never had control before. Even so, she couldn't ignore the abrasive chakra simmering beneath her stomach. No… not just from her stomach. Across from her, she spotted the red-haired child gasping and shaking. A faint trail of saliva dripped from the girl's mouth as she did all she could to regain her breath. She could sense the same abrasive chakra in the girl as well. They were both jinchurikis.

"Is it done?" questioned an unfamiliar voice, cold and distant to her ear.

"Yes, Yagura-sama. Surprisingly, the child used for the sealing survived as well," replied another.

"No matter, send them both. I have no use for the child," dismissed Yagura, followed by the sound of his heel turning.

"Yes sir," acknowledged the group before the man's footsteps disappeared with his entourage.

Not good, Dreamer frowned. She needed to move, needed to get out of there before they did any more. She didn't manage. Above her stood a man dressed in what she could identify as shinobi gear from Kirigakure. He had a hand over her head and another with two fingers pressured over her heart.

Assessment in progress…

… Visual… 100 percent

… Hearing… 80 Percent

… Mobility… Limited

… Control… Compromised

… Source… Seal…

… Seal target… Primary Personality, non-dominant personalities unaffected

… Conclusion… Creative Interpretation Viable

… System recalibration in progress

As Dreamer attempted to get use to a body she's never used before, she took note of the number of immediate threats around her. The one with his hands on her was down on one knee to reach the altar. There were four other Kiri-nins standing on the seal points. A quick evaluation noted, they served more as a stabilizer and a seal power source rather than the seal placer. The person she needs to take command from was the one in front of her.

In comparison with the immediate enemies, the red-haired jinchuriki on the altar next to her posed a greater threat in the long term. If in the wrong hands, she could cause a mess of problems. Somehow, she will need to get not only herself, but the child out of this mess as well. Dreamer blinked and took another breath as she noticed the slight burn in her eyes and her lungs. It was getting tedious to remember to blink and breathe.

… Recalibration Complete

"Go to Konoha," commanded the Kiri-nin as he drew her attention back to him. "Break the seal."

… Verbal command received… Accept?

… Yes

Yin chakra rushed through Dreamer's right arm as she reached up and grabbed her captor by the neck. The man choked as the chakra rushed through his neck and promptly caused it to explode, taking his head off in a bloody splatter. The surrounding Kiri-nin hastily left their seal-post in alarm as they charged at her with the intention to halt her movements.

… Control Seal Broken… Sealer did not specify which seal

The temporary replacement swordswoman flicked her hand to throw off the larger chunks of flesh latched onto her hand before drumming her fingers in midair to test their level of maneuverability…

 _Close enough_. She decided as she took a staggering step back to lug the red-haired child over her shoulder in a fireman hold.

… Accessing Combat Protocol

… Loading Speech Protocol

… Priority… Get the fuck out of there with the red-haired jinchuriki

… Ready in…

… 3 …

… 2 …

… 1…

"…Okay, time to kill our way out of here," said Dreamer softly as she turned to face the remaining four Kiri-nins.

On her shoulder, she could hear the small girl heaving as though she wanted to throw up, but from her tense muscles and ridged form, it seems the girl was doing her best to keep herself from doing so.

 _Considerate._ Dreamer supposed as she sidestepped the Kiri-nin's assault. In the next step, she ducked forward swiped a sloppily formed chakra scalpel into his side.

Not accurate enough to kill or maim him, but enough to slow him for a moment as she planted another handful of Yin chakra into his back. Like the first man she grabbed by the neck, the portion of his back exploded from the influx of healing chakra. With the addition of demonic chakra bubbling in her coils, it was hard for any level of control. The best she could do was overload the enemy's system with Yin chakra, which could disrupt the cell's normal regeneration rate to the extent of explosion.

A trick, quickly exhausted her own chakra reserves, but she had little other choice since she had a passenger. If she had access to the Three-Tails' chakra, this wouldn't be an issue, but unfortunately she did not have the luxury. She will have to find an alternative option to deal with the remaining three. For the moment, running was her best bet as she darted through the opening from the two Kiri-nins she took down. Except she hadn't realized there were more Kiri-nins lying in wait. She thought they all left with Yagura when he departed.

 _What to do?_ Dreamer wondered as she came to a stop at a forest of Kiri-nins.

"…We're fucking screwed aren't we?" whispered the little red-head over her shoulder with a nervous chuckle. For a child, the girl had quite a potty mouth.

"We'll get out of this… somehow," assured Dreamer, not taking her eyes off the enemy before them.

"Unless we somehow pull a miracle out of our asses, I highly doubt it," grumbled the girl quietly.

"I'm fresh out of miracles in my ass. How about you?" replied Dreamer dryly.

"Quite sure fate hates my ass so… " retorted the girl with a scoff.

"Well then, if there are no miracles to be found. We'll just have to make our own," continued Dreamer with a tired huff. "Though… easier said than done. I'm almost out of chakra."

"… I could give you some if you need it," offered the girl after a moment.

"Ho—" started Dreamer, but the girl somehow managed to twist her body and shoved her arm into the kunoichi's mouth. Alarmed, the older girl bit down on instinct.

In seconds, the familiar rush of chakra surge through her body, soothing away the aches and pains brought on by the sealing and fighting. Dreamer's eyes widened, the girl was an Uzumaki. She must be the one Sakumo encountered in the forest earlier in the week.

"Let's see that miracle…" slurred the girl sluggishly as the kunoichi pulled her arm out of her mouth and shifted the limp girl in her hold.

Energy replenished Dreamer hastily raised her thumb from the gore-less hand to her lips and bit down. With a quick set of hand seals she slammed her hand down to the ground before any of the Kiri-nin could react.

"Summoning jutsu!" shouted Dreamer before a plume of summoning smoke exploded and Tsuruya appeared in her winged-glory. "Tsuruya, to the sky!"

"Understood," replied the summon with a great flap of her wings and took off with the two girls on her back.

The Kiri-nins below started their assault, throwing kunai and shurikens to attempt to bring them down. However, Tsuruya maneuvered easily around the weapons and glided away with the horde following by ground. They weren't out of the woods, both metaphorically and literally, but at least they had a better chance than before. Now, if only Dreamer could get Kei back in control then they could get to dealing with the Three-Tails and their fellow potty-mouth jinchuriki.


	6. Peachy (Kasa)

Not many things scared Kasa. The biggest one she will admit was her crippling fear of cats. Terrible abominations born from the depths of hell as she would call them. Heights on the other hand was not as frightening. Even though she was currently riding a crane into however many feet into the sky, it wasn't so much the fear of falling, but rather the fear of impact.

Point made, she was more sick than scared with what she's been through the last hour. Between the manhandling by Kei, the Konoha kunoichi turned jinchuriki and jetfighter grade evasive maneuvers from her crane summon Tsuruya, Kasa suffered from both motion sickness and altitude sickness from their jostling. Her ears popped several times since the Tsuruya had taken off and she fought off two instances of nausea.

"You okay?" asked Kei, her grip around her waist stayed firm as the older girl made sure at no point, she fell off Tsuruya's back.

"Peachy," retched Kasa as she covered a hand over her mouth to keep from vomiting.

Kei took her words at face value and returned her attention to keeping them air-bound. With their current situation there wasn't much to be done for Kasa in short of returning her to the ground. A luxury they cannot afford while the enemies was trying to shoot them out of the sky.

From what little she could make out through the dwindling daylight, there were still an ample amount of pursuers on their tail.

 _What a persistent bunch_ , thought Kasa darkly as she glanced up to the cloudy sky.

If breathing and visibility wasn't an issue, taking refuge in the clouds until they passed would've been a possible option. Given they don't freeze to death first, but alas mortality was a bitch.

"Kei-sama, it's best we find cover soon. A storm is brewing from the west. We won't be able to fly much longer in these conditions," said Tsuruya.

"Do what you can," breathed Kei as she ducked her head and Kasa's to cut down the wind draft.

"Understood," replied the summon before she dove sharply into the trees below.

Kasa bit back a startled scream at the sudden drop and clung tightly to Kei, which turned out to be a good thing as the older girl hauled her off Tsuruya's back and jumped onto a sturdy branch. While Kei slipped down to hide them in the foliage, the crane summon continued to fly off to draw away their pursuers.

From Tsuruya's departure, Kei waited no more than five minutes before she hurried off with Kasa in tow. The small red-head mournfully wished the older girl had waited a bit longer for her stomach settled. Unfortunately, the crane summon could only feign having passengers for so long before the enemies figured out their subterfuge.

While the short respite did not last long, it did manage to cutback the number of pursuers. However, it was still more than what they could handle.

"Enough of this cat and mouse chase," grounded the Kiri-nin. "You will come with us."

"…I hate cats," muttered Kasa under her breath and earned a snort from the older girl holding her.

"You and me both," replied Kei in a muter, her breath ragged and struggling to even out from the frantic run.

"So, if I let you bite me again, think you can work up another miracle?" asked Kasa quietly, her arms still wrapped around kei's neck while the swordswoman did her best to stand her ground.

"Don't think that'll help this time kid," grunted Kei as a grimace crossed her face. "Shit, I can't—"

Kasa yelped in surprise when the older girl dropped her and immediately kneeled to the ground with her arms wrapped around her stomach.

"Hey! Are you okay? What's wrong—" started Kasa, but halted when she spotted the familiar red chakra bubbling from her form. The seal was breaking.

"Abort mission! The jinchuriki's gone critical! Shouted one of the Kiri-nins before the small group retreated.

Kasa gnawed on her lower lip, torn between whether she should stay with the girl and risk death or flee and possibly get captured again.

"K-kid, run," growled Kei as she struggled to contain the chakra within her.

"But," protested Kasa, though half-hearted at best. On the one hand, she was relieved the girl had given her the blessing to leave without guilt, but at the same time it didn't feel quite right to leave her.

"Get away!" snapped Kei as the chakra flared and she curled further into herself.

The shockwave from the surge sent loose branches and pebbles flying about. Kasa herself was knocked off her feet and tumbled backwards in a sloppy roll. Her back collided into a nearby tree and ripped a low hiss from her lips. Before she could collect herself, something soft and solid smacked straight into her face and dropped into her lap.

"Fuck!" cursed Kasa, her hands shot up to her nose as tears of pain welded in her eyes.

Through unshed tears, she noticed a small pouch in her lap. From the design, it looked similar to her father's equipment pouch. However, that wasn't what drew her attention. Ignoring the stinging pain on her face, Kasa made haste in ripping the flap open from its velco strip and dug her hand in to yank out a small pouch used to protect and carry unused seals.

Why Kei had chakra-suppression seals in her pouch, Kasa had no clue, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She can't claim any inherent talent in chakra sensing, but she was intimately familiar with the call of an unused seal. For the life of her she couldn't draw any, but she can damn well activate one like no one's business.

With seals tightly gripped in hand, the small red-head crawled onto her knees and made her way towards Kei through the surge of demonic chakra. Every inch she made felt like pushing through the raging monsoon. If she was standing, no doubt she would have been sent flying before she managed two steps. Her tiny stature did little to help with grounding her from the resistance.

"Come on, you can do this," muttered Kasa as she urged herself to push forward. Either she managed or she and the surrounding forest would turn into a crater the instant the Three-Tails escaped. "No pressure."

Inch by inch, Kasa made her way through, only stopping to press herself to the ground when a particularly strong surge pulsed through. Kei on the other hand was a growling mess as she struggled to keep the tails from forming. By the time Kasa managed to reach her, she barely had the energy to tag the older girl with the seal. However, through sheer determination, she grabbed hold of Kei's arm and slapped the suppression seal as hard as she could on the girl's forehead.

The reaction was instantaneous. As though reaching the eye of a storm, the pressure disappeared and the two girls slumped to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs. Kei was knocked unconscious by the suppression seal, while Kasa was barely able to keep her eyes open from the exhaustion of crawling through a demonic chakra surge.

"Well," huffed Kasa with a tired laugh. "I guess fate doesn't hate me that much."

Her comment was met with a crack of thunder, followed by a quiet downpour of rain. The small red-head sighed dejectedly as she wiped the rain from her face and untangled herself from the other girl.

"I stand correct it," grunted Kasa dryly as she stumbled to her feet, jelly-legged and tired.

At least, they were alive… in the middle of who knows where, under miserable weather, but they were alive. Now, if only she had the energy to somehow lug the taller _and_ heavier girl to find shelter. The longer they stay exposed to the elements, the lower their survival rate becomes. Kasa grabbed onto Kei's arm in hopes to drag her along to find cover, but the girl didn't budge an inch even as her shoes dug into the ground and slid from the effort.

"Come on! Move!" grounded the little red-head despite the lack of progress her tugging brought.

A rustle in the foliage drew her attention away from Kei briefly as she scrambled to grab whatever she could find as a means of defense. Kasa managed a rather crooked branch as she held it aggressively with both hands. The rustling continued before a shadow emerged from the bushes. Kasa let out a scream as she closed her eyes and swung blindly as whatever that came at her. However, before she managed to smash whatever it was, the branch was plucked easily out of her hands.

At the loss of her weapon, her balance shifted and her footing slipped. Thinking the worst, she raised her arms protectively over her head as she fell onto her behind, screaming as she went.

"Kasa!" shouted a familiar voice as firm hands rested on her shoulders. "Kasa, calm down, it's me! It's daddy."

"D-daddy?" repeated Kasa with uncertain as she lowered her arms and peeked through the gap.

"See? It's me," said her blue-haired father, Tesuri as he brushed aside the rain soaked strands from her forehead and planted a relieved kiss. "Everything's okay now, I got you."

"Is it really you?" asked Kasa cautiously, still unsure if it wasn't a trick of some sort. "How did you find me?"

"Thank your, mother," chuckled Tesuri as he pulled out a necklace made from twine with various charms weaved into its threads.

Hesitantly, she reached out to touch the small charms and each of them sung with the familiar pattern of her mother's seals. Among the charm-seals, there was a tracking seal. Kasa couldn't stop the tension from melting off her body as she broke down in hiccupping sobs and tackled her dad in a relieved hug. It was over! Everything was going to be okay! They were—

"Wait! You have to help Kei!" said Kasa as she snapped out of her temporary bliss and grabbed hold of her dad's hand to drag him to the fallen girl behind her.

"Kei?" repeated Tesuri with a frown.

"She saved me from the bad people! You need to help her! They sealed something bad in her," said Kasa in the most child-like manner possible.

"…Another Konoha shinobi?" said Tesuri in surprise.

"Another?" asked Kasa with a curious tilt to her head.

"You have a knack for getting saved by them don't you," chuckled Tesuri, petting her head as he knelt down to run a diagnosis jutsu over the older girl.

It took a moment for Kasa to digest her father's words before her face lit up in delight. Sakumo was okay. She still have no clue whether or not she screwed up the timelines, but for now, it'll have to do. Tension gone, her eyes drifted close and she allowed the exhaustion to take over.


	7. Tension (Kei)

 

"…Where am I?" wondered Kei as she stared into the nothingness around her.

The last thing she remembered was shoving Dreamer into the foreground to take control while she attempted to fix the compromised seal… except, she can't remember if she did. Kei raised her hand in front of her face, but saw nothing, only darkness. A dark emptiness that stretched into eternity. If she was any other person, she might have thought she was alone, but Kei knew better.

"Oi," challenged the androgynous girl. "I know you're there, show yourself."

As if humoring her request, the darkness drew back and she found herself standing atop what seemed like a small island surrounded by water. In the distance she could see something speeding through the murky depths of the water. The water hissed and chortled as it broke through the water, revealing several tentacle-like appendages and a familiar looking eye. She found the seal—well, what she assumed a mental manifestation of the thing.

"Today's just getting better and better isn't it?" A low disappointed grunt escaped her lips as she tilted her head up to glance at the creature. "Somehow, I thought you'd be more intimidating."

**Silence**

"So what are you supposed to be, a tentacle monster? Not very original," taunted Kei as she pocketed her hands.

**Submit**

"How about no?" drawled Kei petulantly, testing to see if the creature would give any other reaction beyond commands.

**Submit**

"Guess not," sighed Kei and wondered what else she could do.

The monster looming above her had little to no sentience whatsoever. Beyond the basic orders, it did nothing else. Absently, she worried if Dreamer was able to handle herself in the outer world. She really should worry more about her situation, but she had no clue where to start to deal with the matter.

For the matter, where was Isobu in all this? Did the seal overtake the sealed beast? Did she have to contend with both the beast and the seal? What if she failed? What would happen then? What would happen to Konoha? There was so much riding on this. She had to—

**Obey**

"Fuck off," growled Kei. "Can't you see I'm trying to think here?"

The slithering tentacles halted at her words before sharply turning its point towards her. Apparently, the monster had a tiny bit more sentience than she thought. Kei cursed under her breath as she sidestepped the first attacking tentacle before raising her arms to brace against the second that swatted her aside. Her body skipped across the water's surface like a stone, tumbling and bouncing as she fumbled to find her footing.

"What now?" grumbled Kei as she glided to a stop on the water's surface and stared up at the swirling dark tornado that was once the monster.

It was reforming itself, but into what? Kei's frowned as she braced for the worst. However, as the tornado died down, in its place was a humanoid figure, a small fraction of the size of the previous monster. Her brows raised in surprise when she recognized the features of the person in front of her.

"…Me?" whispered Kei in surprise as the girl tilted her head back and opened her eyes with full condescension. Of all the things she expected for the monster to turn into, a dark version of herself was the last thing on her mind. What did she have to resent? What did she have to hate?

" _This is all pointless,_ " droned her shadowy copy as she crossed her arms.

"Pointless?" repeated Kei in confusion.

" _All this planning, all this preparation. None of it mattered in the end, did it?_ " mocked the copy.

"What the hell are you talking about?" growled Kei. "Of course it mattered—matters!"

" _Does it?_ " challenged the shadow. " _Every change up until now was done by that woman Natsumi and even then it didn't stop this from happening. If this could still happen, what's to stop Obito from becoming Tobi?_ "

"I will!" snapped Kei.

" _And if you fail?_ "

" _If_ I fail," enunciated Kei. "It hasn't gotten to that point yet. You don't know if that would happen!"

" _This isn't even your story,"_ scoffed the other. " _You're not obligated to help them at all!_ "

"Excuse me, have you seen the canon?" countered the agitated kunoichi. "It's a cluster fuck of emotional constipation and miscommunication! If you haven't notice, I live here now! This is my world just as much as theirs!"

" _Are you sure it doesn't belong to that Natsumi woman?_ " drawled Dark Kei with crossed arms. " _The only reason you ended up in Team Minato was probably her doing as well._ "

"Natsumi?" murmured Kei quietly, her eyes widened realization sank in. "I… see."

" _You don't matter,_ " continued Dark Kei as if to rub the fact in her face. " _Nothing you do matters. So why bother? It's not worth the effort._ "

"That's…" Kei trailed off as she lowered her gaze to the murky depths below them.

It made sense. Under Natsumi's machinations, there was little else left for her to do. Kannabi Bridge had resolved without Obito's supposed demise. Rin was safe in the walls of Konoha under Yamaguchi sensei's apprenticeship. And Kakashi… had his family and more. By all logic, Minato sensei and Kushina would be safe by the time Naruto's birth came to be. There was no need for her existence here. Compared to what the older kunoichi accomplished, she had little worth.

"…Even so," started Kei quietly as she returned her gaze to her shadow. "I still want to give it my all."

" _Why?_ " growled her copy. " _What do you have to gain from this?_ "

"It's not the matter of gaining, but retaining," continued Kei. "Regardless of my own worth, it doesn't change the value of everyone around me. Mom, Hayato, Rin, Minato sensei, Kushina-san, Obito and Kakashi. They're all… dear to me and I would do anything to protect them."

" _Even if it ends in your death? Are they really worth it?_ " demanded Dark Kei, her hands clenched as her sides in frustration.

"…Yeah," said Kei softly with a wry grin. "They're worth every minute of my life."

With that, the darkness completely shattered and she suddenly found a familiar grip at her arm.

"Kei? Kei!" shouted Dreamer, somehow her ego was back in their mindscape once more.

"…We're spending way too much time in here today," grumbled Kei as she pressed a hand against her head, but paused when she caught sight of the missing sections on her ego's body. "Hey! What happened?"

"Our body can't sustain us," explained Dreamer, her hand hovered over what seemed like shattered porcelain pieces of her torso. "You're assimilating me."

"What do you mean I'm assimilating you? How?" panicked Kei, her hands torn between wanting to reach out to Dreamer and terrified at the possibility of making it worse.

"Between the seal holding Isobu and the coercion seal, we've expended far too much Yin chakra to keep me here," continued Dreamer. "It won't be long before I'm obsolete."

"…What's going to happen to me? To us?" asked Kei quietly, her eyes drew to the pieces slowly breaking off from Dreamer's body and shattering into tiny pieces across the mindscape.

"I've taken the precaution diverted what remains of the chakra sustaining me now to reinforce the seals. Not sure how long it will hold, but hopefully long enough for you to get help in fixing the seal," noted Dreamer.

"Fun," said Kei numbly, hand closed against her chest with worry.

"We don't have much time. My guess, once I'm gone you'll receive a memory dump of everything I've kept for you thus far."

"Sounds painful," grimaced Kei. "But I guess we have no other option."

"Sorry," apologized Dreamer, her eyes closed during the final stage of her shattering to dust. "Commencing data dump."

Kei clenched her eyes shut as a sea of red sledgehammered her back in control of her body. Between the memory dump and the chakra surge, she fell to her knees with her arms around her torso. It was all she could do to keep from screaming. Her head pounded from the endless stream of memories. Her body burned from Isobu's chakra. Despite Dreamer's efforts in reinforcing the seal, it was still too much for her to handle.

"Hey! Are you okay? What's wrong—" called out a voice she recognized as the little redhead, Kasa. "K-kid, run," growled Kei, barely able to force out a warning as she desperately tried to keep Isobu's chakra back at bay.

"But!" protested the girl.

"Get away!" roared Kei as the chakra finally overtook her.

If this had been any other circumstance, she might've felt bad for the girl who got caught up in this mess. As it was, she was relieved this didn't happen in Konoha. She may end up dead, but at least everyone else would be safe. Her only regret was not being able to say goodbye. An unfortunate pity, but it was for the best. Kei clenched her eyes shut and curled into herself, waiting for death to come.

Except… it didn't.

"Come on! Move!" grounded a soft, but determined voice.

Kei's eyes snapped open just as a small hand with one of her chakra-suppression seals pressed to her forehead. Before she lost consciousness, her eyes refocused and she spotted the exhausted red-haired child slumping boneless against her.

* * *

The next time Kei awoke was to an unfamiliar rustic ceiling. Her head pounded mercilessly, filled with scattered memories of new and old. Faintly, she registered several unfamiliar chakra signatures moving about, most too flimsy to be anything but civilian. Then there were two others, one with a refinedness that reminded her of Yamaguchi sensei and Rin, a medic-nin and the other a volatile mess, darting about the place with the small civilian chakra.

Kei bit back a groan as a wave of nausea overcame her. The frantic movement made her sick to her stomach. Fortunately, her misery didn't last long as the soothing chakra made its way to the room and the door slid open quietly.

"Ah, you're awake," said the blue-haired man before the volatile chakra halted abruptly and turn heel to dash towards her room.

"She's awake?" cheered an excitable voice before Kasa crashed into the man's hip and peeked around him. "Hi!"

"Kasa," warned the man as he pressed a hand against her head to push her back. "Inside voice, Kei-kun is still recovering."

"Oh…whoops?" said the girl with wide eyes, her hands shot up to cover her mouth in turn.

 _Faker_ , thought Kei offhandedly as she watched their interactions. While she hasn't sorted through the mess Dreamer left her, she could clearly remember the girl's potty-mouthed tendencies from the short exchange before.

"How are you feeling?" asked the blue-haired man. "Any pain?"

"No… just miserable," replied Kei quietly, head still pressed against the ragged pillow beneath her. "And sick."

"That's to be expected, I've done what I could to stabilize your condition, but I'm no seal master. You won't be able to use your chakra until you get one to look you over," continued the man.

"I can't use chakra?" Kei's eyes widen in horror as she forced herself to sit up. She barely managed to get to her knees before a wave of vertigo hit her.

"Easy there!" said the man as he caught her by the shoulder and steadied her.

"Who are you and what the hell did you do to me?" snapped Kei as she fought off the urge to shake her head to make the room stop spinning, but she knew it would only make it worse.

"I've placed several disruption seals over the one you have now to keep the chakra in. It can be reversed once your initial seal's fixed," assured the man.

"You still haven't answered my first question," groused Kei as she did her best to glare in her condition.

"Tesuri Mon, I'm Kasa father," answered Tesuri.

"Her…father," repeated Kei with a frown. It was at the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't recall exactly why those words were of significance.

"You can trust my daddy," interrupted Kasa as she plopped down on the foot of her futon. "He's a great iryo-nin, if he said it can be reversed it will."

"Kasa," sighed Tesuri. "Weren't you playing with Shiori-chan? Why don't you go out and play with her while I help Kei-kun?"

"But I wanna stay!" whined Kasa.

"Um…Tesuri-san?" called out a meek voice from the door.

At a glance, Kei spotted a fair-skinned little girl with blue eyes and dark hair. She looked relatively close to Kasa's age, but her delicate features made her look unlike any child she's seen in what she assumed a small village, if the state of the room she resided was any indication. However, what drew her attention the most was a white bandages wrapped around her head despite how she tried to hide herself behind the door.

"Yes, Shiori-chan?" called out Tesuri gently from where he crouched.

"Grandma said she wants to speak to you. Do you have a moment?" asked the girl quietly.

"Of course, please tell her I'll be there in a bit," replied Tesuri. The girl nodded and disappeared before he turned back to Kei. "Sorry, I'll be back."

"Wooh! Does that mean I can keep Kei-san company?" chirped Kasa.

"Don't bother her too much," warned Tesuri as he got up. "She's still recovering."

"Okay," sighed the girl in exasperation, in a way kids would do after having heard the same lecture countless times over.

Kei kept quiet until Tesuri was completely gone before she turned her full attention to the child before her. She was far different from the girl she encountered at the sealing. Either the girl was an accomplished actress or she has a split personality. Kei reasoned the first was more likely than the latter, in which case, color her impressed.

"So…" started Kasa awkwardly once she was certain her dad was out of range. "About what I said back when we were… um…"

"What about it, Ms. Potty-Mouth?" Kei raised a brow before the girl flushed red and ducked her head down in embarrassment.

"Can you not tell my daddy about that?" squeaked the girl as she twiddled with her thumbs. "Mommy's going to get in trouble if he hears about what I did."

"Why would your mother get in trouble for something you did?" Kei frowned.

"Because… Daddy would know she said bad words around me when she wasn't supposed to." mumbled the girl as her red hair curtained around her face. "Mommy always said if someone scares you, you should be scarier than them so they would leave you alone…. And since mommy's the scariest when she's angry and say bad words, I thought… maybe it would work?"

For a moment, Kei wondered what sort of mother would curse in front of her child, but then the image of an angry red-haired woman invaded her thoughts. Not Kushina, Minato sensei's girlfriend, but Somoku, the distraught mother that was willing to go against Jiraiya so she could go in search for her husband and daughter. It finally clicked in her mind what bothered her.

Tesuri and Kasa were the husband and child the woman was looking for. It made sense why the girl could use seals, made sense why she would act strangely inappropriate for her age.

"Please don't tell daddy," begged the girl, wide-eyed and meek as she hazard a peek up at her.

At the look, Kei couldn't help but think back to Hayate. How her little brother would beg her not to tell their mother when he got in trouble in school or how he snuck into the family hidden cache of weapons and nicked himself with one of the blades. The girl was a bit strange, but within the limits of a child born from shinobi parents.

Natsumi's existence has led her to believe there to be others like them, but she can't very well approach every person she suspected in the same manner she had with the older woman. Besides, didn't the older woman send Jiraiya off in search for survivors from the Uzumaki clan? What's to say Kasa and her mother weren't among those who were lost in the original timeline because no one ever went in search for them? From what Kei recalled, Somoku was practically at death's door if not for Jiraiya's intervention. Who's to say Kasa wasn't used as a sacrifice to seal Isobu into Rin, once upon a time?

"Kei-san?" Kasa's meek voice drew Kei out of her thoughts and back to the worried little redhead at the foot of her bed.

 _I'm overthinking this,_ thought Kei as she breathed out through her nose.

"…Are you okay? Does it hurt?" asked the girl quietly.

"I'm fine, don't worry," started Kei, but paused when a familiar set of chakra signature came to her senses. "Oh no…"

"What?" Kasa perked up at the change of her tone. "What's wrong?"

"Get me to your father right now," ordered Kei as she struggled to push herself off the futon.

The girl looked as though she wanted to question her, but refrained and instead scurried over to Kei's side to help her up. Kei gripped onto the redhead's shoulders, using her as a crutch as the girl carefully lead her out of the room. Absently, Kei noted the girl had the beginnings of a fussy iryo-nin. However, didn't delve on the thought for long as a spike of chakra caught her attention and a girlish scream rang out, likely the girl who stepped in briefly before.

"Shiori-chan!" shouted Kasa as she abandoned Kei's side and rushed into the room ahead.

"Wait!" called out Kei as she scrambled to grab the girl, but failed. Instead, she flailed her arm out to purchase the wall to regain balance.

"Leave my daddy and Shiori-chan alone!" screamed the redhead followed by what sounded like an explosion.

"Kakashi!" shouted Obito.

"Wait! Don't get any closer to her!" warned Tesuri.

Kei's breath hitched as she forced herself to hobble faster into the other room. From what she knew of Obito, he was always the emotionally volatile one. While neither she nor Kakashi ranked as highly as Rin in their Uchiha teammate's mind, he was absurdly loyal to a fault, second only by his stubbornness.

With her kidnapped and Kakashi out of commission, she feared the worse of what the Uchiha would do in retaliation. Kei may not have known Tesuri for long to know the extent of his abilities, but there was only so much a medic could do in combat. Even if he had more experience in comparison, Obito was a combat Uchiha with frightful potential even he himself wasn't aware.

Even so, he wasn't her biggest concern. No, that worry falls onto her fellow jinchuriki, Kasa. If she was capable of taking out Kakashi because she saw him as a threat to her father, what would happen if Obito was to do something worse? Kei couldn't use her chakra in this state. She won't be able to stop the girl if she released Isobu in her grief and anger. She needed help. She needed…

"Minato sensei!" screamed Kei in desperation, hoping somehow the man would hear her and come save them.

To her surprise, she found herself swept off her feet. In a blink later, she was in front of a baffled Obito, his eyes wide in surprise and mouth agape. A familiar and comforting hand landed atop of her head before she took note of her smiling sensei to her left.

"Sen…sei?" whispered Kei, relief melted away the tension in her body at the sight of the man.

"It's okay, I'm here now," said Minato soothingly as he ruffled her hair.

"Sensei! They took out Kakashi! He's—" started Obito, but Kei cut him off before he could finish.

"They're not our enemies!" blurted Kei as she broke away from Minato's comforting touch and turned to glance around the room for the other occupants in the room. "Kakashi must've confused Tesuri for the person who kidnapped me and Kasa was just trying to…"

Kei trailed off when she finally spotted the other occupants in the room. Kakashi was buried in what seemed like their camping gear. She recognized the various pots and pans along with their sleeping bags and tent. Kasa sat wide-eyed and dumbfounded at the edge of the mess with an open storage scroll at her feet. Tesuri stood protectively in front of the child name Shiori, while the girl clung to the hems of his shirt fearfully.

There was no blood in sight, chances were, Kakashi was probably knocked out. If the girl had a knack for activating seals, she likely set off the ones on Kakashi's person. Kei couldn't recall off the top of her head what was packed in her teammate's arsenal, but she vaguely recalled his some storage seals and knockout tags in the midst.

"Tesuri-san," started Minato civilly while Kei was caught up in her thoughts. "You assisted a Konoha shinobi by the name Sakumo, did you not?"

"…Yes, in exchange for information about the man who took my daughter," replied Tesuri curtly.

"Why did you help Kei?" continued Minato's line of questioning.

"She saved my daughter, so I returned the favor," answered Tesuri.

"Even though we're from different villages?" asked Minato.

" _My_ village tried to have my family killed!" spat Tesuri hatefully, his voice jolted the small redhead out of her daze before she glance about in alarm. "I would sooner help its enemies than to go back!"

"…Daddy?" said Kasa quietly in a meek voice as she glanced her father and then to Minato and lastly back to the pile Kakashi was buried in. "D-did I do something bad?"

"Kasa-chan, right?" greeted Minato pleasantly as he moved to kneel down next to the red-haired girl.

At the corner of Kei's eye she could see Tesuri tensing at the approach to his daughter, but refrained from lashing out in case Minato decided to turn aggressive.

"Y-yes?" replied the girl as she did her best to keep from inching away.  
"Do you want to go to Konoha?" asked Minato gently, in a tone one only used with children.

"Konoha?" repeated the girl, in confusion at the question.

"Yep, we found your mommy a couple of days ago," explained Minato cheerfully. "She said she was super worried about her little girl named Kasa and wanted to find you as soon as possible."

Kei fell silent at the suffocating exchange. To spectators, the blond man gave off a friendly and disarming demeanor. However, for his targets and those who knew where to look, what he said then was no different from, 'Your daughter is in my grasp, I have your wife. You have no choice but to come with me.' He needn't give an outright threat to Tesuri to be understood. It's no wonder her sensei was feared by so many... Except Kasa apparently.

"So… that means I'm not in trouble for burying that guy right?" asked Kasa as she pointed to the pile of camping gear with Kakashi buried under it.

"Um…" Minato blinked at the completely unrelated question.

"Pft," snorted Kei, unable to hide her amusement.

Somehow, at the girl's absurd question, the room's suffocating tension suddenly felt lighter. It must be the Uzumaki charm, Kei thought with a shake of her head.


	8. Confusion (Shiori)

 

Shiori knew she was different. After all, no other child in Kawa held memories from another life. Unlike the children who saw the world no further than their little village, she knew there were more out there. Way more than their uneducated little minds could handle. The language may be different, but children were children. They' were limited by what their caretakers could provide, which in this case, lack of education.

In a village like Kawa, farm-hands were far more valuable than scholars. The education was secondary to the need for manual labor. Shiori grimaced, her hands ached something fierce from the seemingly unending mountain load of laundry sitting beside her on the riverside. She rubbed her cold hands, wrinkled by the long washing soaks in hopes to get some warmth back into her stiff joints. On days like these, she wished she had a washer and dryer.

"No point in wishing for the impossible," muttered Shiori dejectedly under her breath as she reached for the next piece to wash. Unfortunately, when she tugged the piece out, another article dislodge and tumbled into the river.

Without thinking, she lunged to catch the piece, but miscalculated the distance and ended up plunging into the cold river. A cold chill rushed through her body as the current ripped her away from her washing spot. There was no time for her to even humor the thought of her second life ending so soon. She struggled to keep her head above the water as her lungs burned desperately for air.

Every second felt like hell as the currents ripped her from one side to another, tossing her haphazardly like a ragdoll. It wasn't long before her head collided with a boulder in the midst and her struggle finally ceased. Just as Shiori's eyes drifted close and her body surrendered to the unforgiving torrents, a hand latched onto her wrist and pulled her out.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked a gentle voice followed by a warm hand against her cold cheeks.

It took the last of her energy to force her eyes open to get a brief glance of her blue-haired savior. However, the sight of his attire and gear sent terror into her being as she finally succumbed to the darkness. If she thought a second life in a backwatered village was unbearable, how the hell was she to survive a world of ninjas, wars and tailed beasts?

* * *

As she slept, her mind raged internally. Partially due to the blunt force trauma she suffered from her unfortunate dip into the river rapids, but mostly due to her will for survival. While her memories of her previous life as Eliza gave her more life experience and knowledge, it was ill suited for the harsh conditions and circumstances of this world.

Unlike Shiori and her seven short years of existence, Eliza has already lived a full life conditioned by an entirely different culture with different values and belief. It would be hard press for her to adapt and assimilate into the world they lived in. Even so, regardless how she attempted to brace herself, it hardly prepared her for what's to come.

…Especially when it came in the form of a hyperactive child.

"Daaaad! She's awake!" shouted an unfamiliar voice.

The volume alone ripped Shiori violently back into the world of consciousness, leaving the dark-haired girl with a pounding headache in her wake. With a pained groan, Shiori reached up to touch her head, only to find bandages wrapped neatly around it. Confused, she sat up and found her clothes different from what she wore before.

"Your clothes were wet," offered the blue-haired man in explanation when he noticed her confusion.

"I helped changed you," chirped the little red-head that popped up in front of her vision. "What were you doing in the river anyway? Did you fall in? Wooh! Or were you swimming? Huh? Huh?"

"Kasa," chided the blue-haired man as he pulled her back from being invasive before turning his attention back to Shiori. "Don't mind my daughter, do you know where you are?"

"Um…" Shiori paused as she took a better survey around the area. It took a moment, but eventually she recognized the landscape a good distance away from her village and gave a tentative nod.

"That's good! Do you live far from here?" cut in the girl named Kasa.

"N-no, it's not far from here at all," replied Shiori hesitantly as she glanced to the father and daughter duo. Neither of them looked dangerous, but appearances could be deceiving.

"Ngh…" grunted a soft voice. Shiori flinched in surprise at the sound and turned her attention to the source of the noise. A young man—no, young woman, her voice was of a higher pitch, laid a short distance away. The clothes on her body seemed battered while a thin sheen of sweat coated her face.

"Kei-san," whispered Kasa in alarm before her father planted a reassuring hand on her head.

"I'll handle it, you keep…erm… I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," noted the man awkwardly.

"…Shiori," offered Shiori after a moment.

"Hello Shiori-chan," nodded the man. "I'm Tesuri and this is my daughter Kasa. You two get to know each other for a bit while I tend to Kei-kun."

"Okay!" said Kasa agreeably as her father walked off. Once he was out of hearing range, she plopped down next to Shiori with a hand cupped to the side of her face in a conspiring whisper. "Don't worry, we're not bad people."

Shiori stared blankly at the girl, uncertain if the red-head was serious or if she was trying to be funny. At her gaze, the younger girl's face flushed red, her hand curled to scratch her face in embarrassment.

"Um… I guess that sounds a bit weird huh?" laughed the girl sheepishly as she ducked her head down and curled up against her knees.

Amusement crossed Shiori's thoughts at the girl's social awkwardness. It seemed genuine enough if her embarrassment was anything to go by. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to trust them. Shiori hesitated for a moment as she raised a hand to reach out to comfort the smaller girl.

However, her hand stopped short from the red-head's shoulder when heard the quiet murmurings under her voice. The dark-haired village girl's eyes widened at the foreign words uttered by the girl. Had Shiori been a normal girl without any of Eliza's memories, it wouldn't have register as more than gibberish. Except that wasn't the case and she understood every alarming word that came out of the smaller girl's mouth.

" _Great job numb nuts, not_ _ **bad people**_ _my ass. Why don't you add,_ _ **I'm not a serial killer**_ _or_ _ **psychopath**_ _while you're at it? She'll totally buy that,_ " murmured Kasa bitterly under her breath in a voice almost too low to hear.

Shiori had half a mind scramble back in surprise. Not only did Kasa speak a language she has not yet heard from anyone else in this lifetime, but from her manner of speech, she wasn't exactly the innocent child she appeared to be either. Shiori doubted the girl was aware of her memories from a previous lifetime. So what would she gain from fostering her trust?

Her eyes drifted back to Tesuri's back as he knelt down to check over the unconscious Kei. Neither of them explained her presence and from what she could see, Tesuri was sedating the older girl. The teen didn't look physically injured to warrant such treatment. Maybe the father-daughter duo were human traffickers? This was the world of shinobi after all and there were no clear village affiliation on either of them. Kasa could very well be bait to lure in unsuspecting victims. This could explain the social awkwardness—

"… _FML. I thought adult-ing was hard? Ha, being a child is way worse. I mean, come on! How does one even child?_ " A muffle whine came from where Kasa buried her face into her own legs as she rambled incessantly. _"I can't even child when I was a child!"_

At that moment, Shiori decided to dismiss her initial theory of Kasa being bait for an intricate human trafficking scheme and concluded the girl was too much of an idiotic spaz to be part of any criminal sect. The dark-haired girl let out a breath she unknowingly held as a twitch tugged at the corner of her lip. At least now she knows she's not the only one like this in this world.

" _I can help you with that if you want_ ," offered Shiori quietly in the same tongue to avoid catching Tesuri's attention.

" _Easy for you to say, you don't have to hide the fact you're—_ " Kasa paused in her ramble and snapped her head up from her lap. She moved so quickly, Shiori thought the red-head gave herself whiplash with how her hair flung about. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened in shock. " _Y-you!"_

"Shh…" Shiori raised a finger to her own lips to silence the girl before her spastic reaction drew Tesuri's attention to them.

" _But—_ I mean—How!?" spluttered Kasa in between languages before she slapped her hands over her own mouth to keep from making a scene.

" _Second life, right?_ " said Shiori quietly.

Kasa nodded rapidly in silence, unable to trust herself to vocalize anything as she darted her gaze between her father and Shiori. From what she observed, Shiori could tell the redhead was the loud emotive type with endless questions to ask. After seven years of having no one else to relate to, Shiori would have happily answered a million questions and more. Unfortunately, neither of them were in a position to talk freely. She could only cling onto the relief that the younger girl had enough sense to stay silent to keep suspicion off both of them.

"Kei-kun's going to need better treatment than I could give," sighed Tesuri as he made his way back to them. "It's probably best that we get going."

"Eh!?" protested Kasa as she jumped to her feet as she glanced between her father and Shiori in a panic. "B-but what about Shiori-chan?"

"We can escort her home first before we leave. Is your village far from here Shiori-chan?" asked Tesuri tentatively.

"It's… not far," replied Shiori hesitantly as she glanced to Kasa's panicked face. What were they going to do? It was already a one in a millionth chance they ended up in this second life and one in a billionth chance they managed to meet.

"Can you walk?" continued Tesuri in his line of questioning. "I can carry you if you can't, but with Kei-kun as well, but it might take a bit longer."

"I—" started Shiori, but was hastily interrupted by the smaller girl.

"I could help her!" shouted Kasa as she jumped to her feet with her hand held high as if raising her hand to answer a question in class.

"Kasa, that'll take even longer," sighed Tesuri. "Sorry Shiori-chan, I guess I'll have to carry you after all."

"But! But!" protested Kasa childishly, but ultimately gave in as her father picked up both Kei and Shiori into his arms and onto his back.

Shiori had to give the girl props in manipulating her father into taking the longer alternative to buy a little more time for them to think of alternatives. It's likely they'll get separately in the end, but with this they could at least use the time to think of some way to stay in contact or at least figure out where they could meet up again at a later date.

As they made their way to Shiori's village, the small group fell into a careful silence. Tesuri's eyes remained wary for threats, while Kasa kept close to his heel with a hand grasped onto the hem of his shirt. It was obvious they were in hiding even if without knowing the full details of their background. In the moments of silence, Shiori couldn't help, but glanced down at the teen named Kei in Tesuri's arms.

The first she noticed was the Konoha hitai-ate bandana wrapped around the kunoichi's head with stray dark locks peeking out from under. The dark rims under her eyes and scuffs and scratches on her face contrasted starkly against her pale complexion. Shiori tried to extrapolate as much as she could from what she assessed of the teen, but after an encounter with someone as colorful as Kasa, the unconscious teen seemed almost bland in comparison.

Not a fair assessment she realized as the teen could likely hide behind her unassuming appearance to use her deadliness to her fullest potential. Shiori fought back a frustrated huff as she drew her gaze away from the teen and back to the greenery around them instead. Her thought process was going in circles. There simply wasn't enough information for her to make sense of anything.

Tesuri was met with wary gazes as he followed Shiori's directions through the village to her hovel of a house. Of course, when they got there, her grandmother crashed out through the doors with worry at the sight of her on a stranger's back.

"Shiori!" cried out her grandmother as Tesuri carefully allowed the girl to slip down from his back.

"Grandma," returned Shiori hesitantly as the older woman swept her into her arms.

"What happened?" demanded the woman as she turned a suspicious eye on the blue-haired man.

"Ma'am," greeted Tesuri gently as to not to startle her. "We found Shiori-chan swept downstream by the river. She sustained a slight concussion, but there shouldn't be any complications once she's rested up."

"And you are?" asked the elderly woman evenly.

"Just a concerned father," replied Tesuri as he glanced down to Kasa who clung to his pant-leg like a shy child. "Since Shiori-chan's home safe, I think its best we move along. We're garnering a bit too much attention."

"But—" started Shiori in protest as she tried to pull away from her grandmother's hold, but the older woman held her close.

"That band on the child you're holding," noted the woman warily. "You're a shinobi aren't you?"

"It's… probably best you pretend you didn't notice that," suggested Tesuri worriedly.

"Hmm…" hummed the woman as she inspected him once over. "Come in and have a cup of tea."

"Huh?" Shiori glanced to her grandmother in confusion as the woman released her and turned to lead the group into the house.

"Ma'am, I must insist we—" protested Tesuri, but the old woman won't have it.

"I'm not serving any shinobi, just the father who saved my granddaughter and his charges," noted the woman evenly.

Shiori could see the reluctance on Tesuri's face, but the option was taken out of his hand when a loud growling stomach cut in on the conversation. All eyes drifted to the small child clinging to his leg. Her face flushed red as she laughed awkwardly.

"Sorry," said the girl with a sheepish grin.

"I supposed some snacks would be appropriate then," noted the old woman, amusement clear in her eyes even though her face remained stoic.

"Thank you erm…" started Tesuri, but he faltered briefly at the lack of name to refer to the old woman.

"You may call me Shizuka," supplied Shiori's grandmother as she led them in.

"Shizuka-san," acknowledged Tesuri with a curt bow. "Sorry for the intrusion."

"Come along," rasped the old woman as they followed her in. "You may set the child down in the other room before tea."

While Tesuri went to lay Kei down and Shizuka went bustling about the kitchen to prepare tea and snacks, Shiori and Kasa took their chance to reconvene.

"So, any ideas?" whispered Kasa quietly as they sat at the short chabudai table in the house's main room. It was awfully cramped and no doubt the walls were thin. They couldn't risk saying anything above a whisper and even less so using their once native tongue.

"…Chances of me leaving the village as I am now, is very unlikely," whispered Shiori. "I'm not sure how I would go about doing so."

"Maybe I can ask my dad to take you with us?" suggested Kasa.

"What makes you think he'll agree just because you asked?" retorted Shiori in a deadpan. "You're four."

"Yeah, and annoying to the nth degree, your point?" countered Kasa. "Look, it might be a long stretch, but it doesn't hurt to try right? What's the worst that could happen? Him saying no?"

"No, but wouldn't you think he'll find it strange that you randomly want a complete stranger to tag along? From his point of view, you've barely spoken to me," reasoned Shiori.

"True, but I've been kidnapped by a weirdo, gifted to another weirdo as a sacrifice and lastly chased down by said weirdo's minions for god knows what reason. It was an _extremely_ harrowing experience," replied Kasa haughtily, her words sped up with each word as if to emphasis her point. "I'm quite sure I have _some_ level of PTSD after that and who's to say I'm not going to flip my shit unless they find someone or something to keep me grounded?"

"Um…" Shiori fell silent, taken aback by the girl's out lash of words. She didn't expect such a violent response, albeit the verbal variety, but alarming considering how harmless the redhead looked.

"I'm not insane," muttered Kasa darkly when she noticed the older girl's silence.

"I'm sure you're not," agreed Shiori, though she wasn't too certain of her own words. "But seeing that come out of a four-year-old is a bit… startling."

"I don't see you coming up with any plans," snorted Kasa as she dropped her head to the chabudai's smooth surface.

"How exactly are you going to propose this to your father anyhow?" asked Shiori, decidedly ignoring the girl's jibe.

"I dunno," shrugged Kasa. "Maybe ask him to adopt you my sister or something."

"… Kasa," breathed Shiori as she tried to keep her composure. "I have parents _and_ a living grandmother. What makes you think they'll give me up even if your father agrees?"  
"What do you suggest then?" hissed Kasa.

"I don't know but that's not going to—"

"What are you two girls whispering about?" asked Shizuka as she came into the room with a tray of tea and snacks.

"Nothing!" chirped Kasa, her demeanor did a one-eighty as she snapped upright from where she laid on the table and clasped her hands together innocently on top of the table. Shiori resisted the urge to face palm herself. Can the girl get any more obvious?

"Why don't you go get your father? The tea's ready," suggested the woman in amusement as she set the tray down.

"Yes ma'am!" saluted the girl as she jumped to her feet and darted to the other room.

"Let me help you grandmother," said Shiori as she moved to assist the older woman.

"You've made an interesting friend Shiori," commented Shizuka as they set down the plate of snacks and the various cups.

"You… can say that," agreed the dark-haired girl slowly.

"Out with it," said the woman firmly.

"Huh?" said Shiori as she glanced up to her grandmother in surprise.

"If you have something to say, say it out loud. Don't pussyfoot around with your words," chided the woman.

"I…" Shiori started hesitantly, but at her grandmother's stern gaze, her back stiffened.

"Well?" asked the woman.

"I want to go with Tesuri-san and Kasa when they leave," admitted Shiori quietly.

"The reason?" asked Shizuka, neither in approval or disapproval.

"She's awake?" shouted Kasa excitedly in the other room. "HI!"

"Looks like their companion woke up," noted Shizuka as she glanced towards the hallway.

"Who the hell are you and what the hell did you do to me?" The androgynous girl's shout rang through the house.

The dark-haired village girl grimaced, there goes any chance of her convincing her grandmother to let her leave with them. She hazard a glance back to the elderly woman and noted a steely expression cross her face.

"Grandmother—"

"Shiori, please retrieve our guest for me," ordered Shizuka evenly as she completed setting the table, she gave her no room to protest.

"Yes grandmother," said Shiori quietly as she left to retrieve Tesuri. Worry tingled through her body as she made her way to the room. Maybe she could think of another way to convince her grandmother, maybe—

"But I wanna stay!" whined Kasa from inside the room.

Shiori paused briefly at the other girl's demand, wondering if this was part of the redhead's scheme in getting her father to take Shiori along. However, the thought passed quickly as she slid the door open and stuck her head in. They would have a hard time trying to convince her grandmother anything if Tesuri loses his temper with Kasa here.

"Um… Tesuri-san?" interrupted Shiori softly as she took in the room and its inhabitants. Kasa was on her knees hovering over Kei, who laid on a hastily laid down futon. Tesuri was crouched at the foot of the futon with defensive hands held up as though he was in the process of trying to reason and calm the other two.

"Yes Shiori-chan?" asked the man as he craned his neck to see her.

"Grandma said she wants to speak to you. Do you have a moment?" asked the girl quietly.

"Of course, please tell her I'll be there in a bit," replied Tesuri.

Shiori nodded and slipped out of the room, but not before her eyes met with the redheaded girl. As the door closed, they had a mutual understanding… Neither of them managed to come up with any plans. She supposed there was no point to fret over their diminishing time.

"Wait," whispered Tesuri in a low hush as he rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Hmm?" Shiori glanced up to see furrowed brows marring the blue-haired man's face.

"Stay behind me," warned Tesuri as he took lead and made way back to the main room.

As he entered, a barrage of shurikens came at him. Tesuri barely managed to materialize a scalpel deflect the projectiles before snatching Shiori from the ground and darted for cover. The small dark-haired girl screamed in surprise as he tucked her against the wall and stood protectively in front of her.

"Where is she?" demanded an unfamiliar voice.

"What did you do to Shizuka-san?" Tesuri's voice turned ice cold. Shiori didn't dare move from her spot as her heart clenched in fear.

"I know you have her! Where is she?" demanded the intruder.

Neither of them got an answer as the rapid pitter-patter of feet rushed from the hall and the sliding door slammed open. What followed after was likely the most confusion series of sound and dialogue Shiori had ever heard in her short life.

"Leave my daddy and Shiori-chan alone!" screamed Kasa as the sounds of her footsteps rushed towards the intruder.

"A child?" murmured the intruder in surprise before the sound of an explosion hissed through the air and the room shook as something went crashing into the ground.

"The old lady's safely— KAKASHI!" shouted another voice in alarm.

"Wait! Don't get any closer to her!" Tesuri warned, his back lessened the pressure that kept Shiori pinned to the wall and she took the chanced to sneak a peek around him.

To her surprise, there were more people in the room than she expected. A blond man stood in front holding Kei, while a rambling dark-haired teen pointed an accusing finger at Tesuri. All the while, Kasa sat in at the foot of an abnormally large miscellaneous pile with a single arm sticking out. Shiori did a double-take at the arm before alarm crossed her face. Was someone buried under there?

" _My_ village tried to have my family killed! spat Tesuri, his words drew Shiori's attention away from the twitching arm briefly, but she couldn't help return her gaze back to the oddity in the middle of her house. What on earth could have caused that to happen?

"So… that means I'm not in trouble for burying that guy right?" asked Kasa's befuddled voice as she pointed to the pile in confusion.

Shiori blinked as her gaze alternated between Kasa and said pile as disbelief slowly sank in. Just what was she dealing with?

 


	9. Up Yours! (Kasa)

 

"Leave my daddy and Shiori-chan alone!" There were no other thoughts in Kasa's mind when she charged into the room. She knew she stood no chance as she was, but she couldn't just stand idly by at the threat of her only connections to this world and her last.

Without a single plan in mind, Kasa followed the call of a multitude of seals and crashed into the first body she came across that wasn't her father or Shiori. Her small hands reached for the seals hidden beneath a green vest as she forcibly activated them with her chakra. She didn't register what seals they were until the explosion of a storage seal echoed through the room.

Kasa yelped, stumbling backwards as camping gear ripped out from the vest's pocket. She barely missed getting buried with the scroll's owner underneath pots, pans, sleeping bags and other miscellaneous items.

"The old lady's safely— KAKASHI!" came the voice of a newcomer before Kasa snapped her attention to a goggle wearing young man.

Did he just say Kakashi? Her face paled and her eyes widened in disbelief as she returned her gaze to the pile. What the hell was Konoha's badass doing here? And more importantly... did she just knock him out!?

The phrase "holy shit" ran through her mind in a panicked mantra. How did she manage to knock out the copy-nin? There was no way camping gear was enough to do it to the man who was practically a step away from godhood. How could a man who stood nearly toe-to-toe to Nagato get knocked out?

Kasa sat dumbfounded at the sight before her. If not for her state of confusion and a sense of loss, no doubt she would be running around screaming like a headless chicken. Her mind was filled with mantras of "Holy shit, I took out Kakashi" and "I'm so going to die."

If not for her father's sudden raise of his voice, she wouldn't have noticed the growing tension in the room.

"... Daddy?" She called out uncertainly as she took note of the addition of a blond man, along with Kei. When did they get here? It took a moment for her mind to register the blond man, but the instant she recognized him, another wave of panic washed over her and she hazard a glance back to the pile Kakashi was buried in. "D-did I do something bad?"

The man was Minato Namikaze, Konoha's infamous Yellow Flash. The revered, Fourth Hokage. The protagonist's father. The man, rumored to have single-handedly take down armies in his lonesome. She, a child of a foreign shinobi was, in every sense of the word, screwed.

"Kasa-chan, right?" greeted the blond man as he knelt down to her eye level.

"Y-yes?" managed Kasa weakly, despite her brain's demand to flee and to get as far away from the threat as possible.

"Do you want to go to Konoha?" asked the man gently.

"…Konoha?" repeated Kasa in confused uncertainty.

It made no sense for the man to ask her if she wanted to go to Konoha. Unless he was petty enough to hand her to the torture and interrogations department for knocking out Kakashi. No, he's not the sort to do that… right? She hazard a glance to her dad and noticed he was just as tense if not more. They were going to die weren't they? Kasa whimpered internally, too terrified to outwardly scream or do otherwise.

"Yep, we found your mommy a couple of days ago," explained the blond man cheerily, breaking her train of terrified thoughts.

The panicked chaos in her mind went silent as blank confusion crossed her face. What does her mother have to do with any of this?

"She said she was super worried about her little girl named Kasa and wanted to find you as soon as possible," continued Minato in his friendly demeanor, oblivious to what had occurred in the redhead's mind.

He wasn't angry at her for burying Kakashi, she realized. Unlike Naki, he didn't give off a threatening presence. Instead, he felt same almost like Sakumo when she met the silver-haired man. Dare she voice out her conclusion? After staring at the blond man for a moment longer, she decided she will.

"So…" started Kasa as she pointed towards the pile with a single twitching arm sticking out of it. "That means I'm not in trouble for burying that guy, right?"

"Um…" the blond blinked in surprise at her question, while Kei gave an amused snort behind him. "You didn't mean to, right?"

"He…he started it!" protested Kasa, barely able to regain her bearings and pull up enough courage to childishly blame Kakashi. "Who told him to be mean to daddy and Shiori-chan?"

"Ah," agreed Minato light-heartedly as he ruffled her hair. "Kakashi was being a big meanie wasn't he?"

"Yeah! It's not nice to bully people!" continued Kasa in her self-righteous farce.

"No, it's not," agreed the man again. "Why don't we dig out Kakashi and let him know that he's not being very nice?"

"Hmm." Kasa pretended to think cutely as she glanced between him and the pile once more. "Only if he says sorry to Shiori-chan! He scared her you know!"

"I'll make sure to let him know to say sorry," said Minato. "And then we can all head back to Konoha. You'd like to see your mommy right?"

"Yeah!" cheered Kasa with as much enthusiasm she could muster, but made an obvious pause before she glanced to Shiori and pointed a finger to her. "Can Shiori-chan come too?"

"I don't know about that," said Minato apologetically.

"Why not?" protested Kasa.

"Well, didn't you miss your mommy and daddy when they were gone?" reasoned Minato patiently.

"Yeah, but—" started Kasa, but he gently cut her off.

"Don't you think it's unfair for Shiori-chan if we took her with us and she never get to see her mommy and daddy again?" continued Minato as he glanced over to Shiori and then back to her. "You don't want Shiori-chan to be sad do you?"

Kasa gnawed on her lower lip as she wracked her brain to think of another excuse to drag Shiori along. The man's reasoning was good. If Kasa was a normal child or a reason person, it would have worked perfectly fine in convincing her it was a bad idea to take someone away from their family. However, since Kasa was neither a child nor a reasonable person, such logic wouldn't work on her. Especially so, with her desperation to cling onto the one person that shared a world that no one else in this lifetime was aware of.

"Then we should take them too!" countered Kasa with stubborn a huff. "If they came too then everyone would be happy!"

"Kasa, this is not your decision to make," chided Tesuri, finally speaking up to stop her from aggravating Minato out of his civil demeanor.

"B-but! But!" protested Kasa weakly as her mind scrambled for any excuse. She was fully aware of the extent of her abysmal persuasion skills in this world and her last. However, even she underestimated word vomit that came out of her mouth. "I want to marry Shiori-chan when we're grownups!"

A pin drop could be heard in the silence that fell through the room. When Kasa's brain final caught up with her mouth, her face flushed into a shade equally as red as her hair. It was hard to fight off the urge to bury her face in her hands out of sheer embarrassment. Of all the nonsense she could have come up with, why did she choose marriage? What the hell was wrong with her?

"…That's a first," commented the goggle-wearing Obito. Kasa was far too embarrassed to look any in the eye, but she could hear a resounding smack hit the Uchiha before he let out a disgruntled, "What?"

"Tesuri-san, maybe its best you speak with your daughter about this while we get Kakashi—" started Minato.

Before he could finish, Kasa darted away from him and towards Shiori. The dark-haired girl looked startled as she wrapped her arms around the older girl's neck.

" _Sorry, I couldn't think of anything else_ ," muttered Kasa in a hushed whisper before she shouted. "No! I wanna marry Shiori-chan! I'm not leaving unless Shiori-chan comes with us!"

"Kasa," sighed Tesuri in exasperation as he hauled his daughter off the civilian girl.

"I want to be with Shiori-chan!" whined Kasa as she flailed in her father's grip as he hauled her out of the room.

"Kasa listen to me," said Tesuri in a calm but stern voice as he set her down and grasped onto her shoulders firmly. "This is not the time or place for your tantrums."

"B-but!" protested Kasa, despite knowing full-well it was pointless. By now, she was protesting only for sake of keeping up the act.

"I know you like Shiori-chan, but we can't take her with us. It's too dangerous," explained Tesuri. "You don't want what happened to you to happen to her right?"

"…No," pouted Kasa sulkily. "But I really like her."

"If you really like her, the more reason we shouldn't take her along," continued Tesuri.

"…Okay," agreed Kasa dejectedly for all of three seconds before she perked up. "But if I get super strong, then I could protect Shiori-chan right? And then it won't be a problem if I come back and get her right? Right?"

"Er…" hesitated Tesuri for a moment before he get a defeated sigh. "How about you get strong first before you decide on that?"

"Okay! I'm going to get super strong! And then I'll be able to protect you, mommy and Shiori-chan too!" cheered Kasa excitedly. "Then we could all be together right?"

"…Right," sighed Tesuri with an exhausted, but fond smile as he rested a hand on her head.

Kasa returned the gesture with a cheeky grin. Under the circumstances, this was far from ideal, but she had to work with whatever she could. From the start she knew it was a lost cause trying to get Shiori to Konoha with them. The best she could hope for was planting multiple paths for the future and possibly come back at a later date to bring Shiori to Konoha. As children, neither of them were of value, not when both of them were outsiders and one of them was a civilian.

Still… Kasa's face flushed red in embarrassment when they made their way back into the small hovel of a house. She can't believe out of all the things she could have said, marriage was what came out of her mouth. She hoped to god it doesn't come back to bite her in the ass one day.

"Everything cleared up?" asked Minato as he rolled up several sealing scrolls at once.

"Yes, she won't be causing any trouble," replied Tesuri stiffly.

Kasa dismissed the exchange as her attention focused on the missing pile of camping gear in the middle of the room. They couldn't have been gone for more than a couple of minutes. How did the blond man manage to sort and seal everything away so quickly? The next thing she noticed was a disgruntled Kakashi hunched over the short table and Shiori gingerly pushing a cup of hot tea towards him. Kei was seated on the other side nursing a cup of her own while Obito chattered away in her ear.

If Kasa wasn't part of the altercation just moments ago, she wouldn't have believed anything wrong with the picture before her. A normal person would dismiss the oddity and continue on without a question. However, as she was part of the involved party and she had the matter of her absurd declarations to uphold, she steeled up her resolve and dove in. She hoped Shiori won't get too upset with her. She honestly didn't want to piss off the one person that understood her position.

"AH! Shiori-chan! Why are you serving the big meanie tea?" shouted Kasa as she darted forward to drag Shiori away from Kakashi. The older girl looked startled by the action, but she kept her silence as she watched the exchange.

"Gods, you're annoying," grumbled Kakashi under his breath with a hand to his head.

"No, you're the annoying one!" huffed Kasa childishly and stuck her tongue out.

"Says the ankle-biter," retorted Kakashi as he tilted his head and rested his face on an open palm.

"As if I want to bite your dirty feet! You probably stepped in poop!" retorted Kasa before Shiori wrapped her around Kasa's shoulders and pulled her back.

"Kasa-chan, stop!" whispered Shiori in a panicked hush.

"Why don't you listen to your friend? Obviously, she has more sense than you," drawled Kakashi dully.

"Up—mmph!" started Kasa, but Shiori hastily covered her mouth before she could make another outburst.

"Kakashi, stop teasing Kasa-chan," interrupted Minato as he planted a single scroll on top of the silver-haired teen's head.

"Sensei," groused Kakashi, but said nothing else as he caught the scroll falling off his head.

"Now that we've cleared everything up, it's best we head back to Konoha," continued Minato.

"So soon?" murmured Shiori quietly before Kasa ripped her hand from her mouth.

"We're leaving already?" protested Kasa, but at one look from her father, she changed tactics and turned around to grab a hold of Shiori's hands instead. "I'm going to come back when I grow up! You're going to wait for me right?"

The sound of Obito choking on his tea behind her could be heard. A look of surprised crossed Shiori's face at yet another one of her absurd proposals, but the older girl seem to follow her train of thought and gave a warm smile in return. They needed a reason for Kasa to come back for her since there was no way for them to bring Shiori along.

"Sure," giggled Shiori before Kasa released her hands and tackled her into a hug.

"I promise I'll be back," whispered Kasa in quiet determination as she hugged the older girl tight.

"Take care, okay?" replied Shiori before subtly slipping in a promise of her own. "Otherwise I might not wait and come looking for you instead."

"In that case, let's see who's faster!" cheered Kasa as she broke away from the girl with a grin.

"Let's see," agreed Shiori.

Once Tesuri checked on Shizuka and made sure Obito and Kakashi hadn't roughed off the old lady too badly, the group set off to Konoha. Kasa gave Shiori one last look, reassuring herself she will come back for the older girl. The village disappeared into the distance as the small group raced their way back to Konoha. Kei who have yet to get her seals properly looked over was carried by Minato while Tesuri carried Kasa.

For a moment, Kasa couldn't believe she not only survived through the nightmarish hell, but had the chance to go to Konoha. It almost seemed too good to be true… At least until her gaze fell on her fellow jinchuriki and the rest of Team Minato.

Before Shiori, Kasa hadn't thought there was a possibility of there being another person like her in this world. The fact Rin's position in Team Minato was taken by Kei was a cause for suspicion, but the same applied to Naki who have taken over Tobi's role. Ideally, if Kei was like her, it was one more ally in her favor. However, considering Naki seemed to be older, it was quite possible he was the cause for the change in Team Minato.

Terror clenched at Kasa's chest. What if he was the one that was like her? There was no written rule for people in their position to change things for the better. Naki could very well be an anarchist who wants to watch the world burn. Her hand gripped tightly to her father's shirt as she buried her face into his shoulder, fighting off the urge to hyperventilate. If that was the case, what could she do in her position?

As if sensing her panic, Tesuri shifted his hold to place a hand on her back and rubbed soothing circles to calm her down and whispered gentle reassurances under his breath. Her father's comforting actions helped ease the tension long enough to draw her mind out of the spiral of negative thoughts and forced her to refocus her thoughts to coming up with a solution instead.

If Naki was truly the threat she assumed him to be, she had no time to dilly-dally. With Shiori as a civilian, they were already at a disadvantage against the man. Kasa will have to become a shinobi as soon as the option was available. She can't afford to stay idle, she will have to find some way to advance as quickly, just the thought alone was stressful.

 


	10. Return to Konoha (Kei)

 

"I want to marry Shiori-chan when we're grownups!" shouted Kasa, her words sent the room into silence and disbelief.

Kei was beside herself at the absurd declaration. Any lingering suspicion she had of the girl being like her or Natsumi was wiped from mind. Kasa was an Uzumaki child through and through. There was no way someone from her world could act so recklessly stupid. Given Kasa's age, it would be impossible to learn what was culturally acceptable and what was tabooed.

To declare her desire to marry someone of the same gender could potentially be dangerous in her previous lifetime. In this life, Kei hasn't personally heard or witness anything that indicated the views of this world's stand on the matter, but it was easy to see there weren't many same-gendered couples openly out and about. Anyone with any level of life experience would know to keep their preferences a secret.

For Kasa to say it so openly indicated she was either a naïve child or a complete idiot. It was easier for Kei to believe the girl to be a child rather than an idiot. However, because of the girl, it gave Kei a rare chance to see where her team stood on such matters.

The first was Minato sensei, the man was surprised, but he showed no signs of disgust or disapproval. Kei liked to believe her sensei was a kind and loving saint, but the man was known to have one heck of a poker face. When he sent Tesuri to speak with Kasa, she wasn't sure if her sensei was being understanding or if he pitied Tesuri for having a daughter with such preferences.

Obito was easier to read with the utter shock on his face. Again, there was no sign of disgust, only baffled confusion. It was obvious he never encountered anyone with a preference to their own gender, which brought up another interesting point. If the thought never even crossed Obito's mind was it possible for the Uchiha Clan to have no opinion on the matter?

Being one of the founding clans, continuing the line of sharingan should be a priority. Was there ever an instance where someone from the main clan strayed from tradition? Kei's thoughts on the matter didn't linger long as Minato made quick work of the pile in the middle of the room and dug out Kakashi. The silver-haired jounin gave an annoyed grunt as Minato set him down near Kei and went back to organizing and resealing his equipment.

"Pft, you got buried by an untrained brat," cackled Obito in amusement while Kakashi rubbed the back of his sore neck. With the way the scroll unsealed, he found several items lodging itself in the most uncomfortable positions.

"I was careless," admitted Kakashi grudgingly.

"That's not like you at all," noted Minato offhandedly as one item after another disappeared back into the open scrolls.

"Heh, dismissing someone because of her age and size. I thought you'd be the last person to do that, Mr. Prodigy," grinned Kei as she rested her side of her face against a propped up hand.

"I won't make the same mistake again," grumbled Kakashi.

"U-um… you're not mad at Kasa-chan are you?" interrupted Shiori meekly at their exchange.

"Hmm?" hummed Kakashi as his gaze darted to the civilian girl hovering by the small table. She flushed at the attention and ducked her head down.

"I mean… Kasa-chan is a bit weird," admitted Shiori sheepishly. "But I don't think she wants to hurt anyone. She's just… scared."

"Scared?" noted Obito curiously before realization set in and his attention turned to Kei instead. "Oh."

"Kasa was in a bad situation," supplied Kei, but didn't extrapolate due to the presence of a civilian child. "It's not surprising for her to act the way she did when she thought Kakashi was trying to harm Tesuri and Shiori-chan."

After their ordeal with being turned into jinchuriki and then fleeing from Kiri, Kei wouldn't be surprised if the little redhead had some level of PTSD. However, since the girl shared the Uzumaki Clan's loud and abrasive personality, it was hard to judge how badly the trauma affected her. Most people would retreat into themselves, but from what Kei know of the Uzumaki and what she experienced first-hand from Kushina, they were more likely to become more loud and obnoxious. Of course, the level varied between each Uzumaki, so it was hard to determine whether or not Kasa's obnoxiousness had went up if at all.

"Don't worry too much Shiori-chan," assured Minato with a chuckle. "I'm sure Kakashi's not that petty to hold a grudge against Kasa-chan."

"I have better things to do," muttered Kakashi darkly, but was startled out of his foul mood when Shiori perked up at his words.

"That's good!" said the girl in return and clapped her hands together in relief.

"You're not scared of me?" asked Kakashi in surprise.

"Should I be?" asked Shiori with a curious tilt to her head. "Everything was just a misunderstanding right?"

"Pft," snorted Obito in amusement. "Man, Kakashi, you're losing your touch if a civilian girl isn't scared of you."

"Hmm," hummed Kei in amusement and teased. "Now, I've seen it all. The great Kakashi is secretly a cuddly teddy bear."

"Shut up," groused the silver-haired jounin in annoyance as he glared at his two teammates.

"Hehe, you're all funny," giggled Shiori lightly before she took note of the snacks and tea on the table. "Oh! I should probably serve this. Grandma would be upset if it goes to waste."

"Thanks Shiori-chan, I'm sure the grumpy bear here could use it," grinned Obito as he shot another friendly jibe at his silver-haired teammate.

Kei grinned as Kakashi fired back his own retorts and the two commenced their usual bickering. Her gaze drifted over to the civilian as she took note the girl serving them tea. Surprise crossed the swordswoman's face as she recognized the intricate steps through a traditional tea ceremony. It was an art used mostly in traditional clans like the Hyuga and the upper echelons of society. Kei herself only recognized it because it was part of the curriculum in the mandatory kunoichi classes in the Academy.

As Kei specialized in swordsmanship and the medical arts, she put minimum effort in passing the class. She found stabbing someone with her sword far more effective and less of a hassle compared to the kunoichi arts. Not to say Kei cannot perform said arts, only her performance was closer to a novice rather than a master. With how many needless steps and ceremony the server needed for the tea ceremony, Kei could almost equate the process to a sword kata. It was a must-need skill for espionage work.

Kei shook away the paranoid thoughts. While it was strange for a simple village girl to know how to perform a traditional tea ceremony, her delicate features hinted of nobility. It's quite possible the girl's family had fallen from grace at some point and ended up stowaway in a hick town like this one. She already had one bad suspicion over the rambunctious redhead.

"Ah! Shiori-chan! Why are you serving the big meanie tea?" shouted said rambunctious redhead when she came back into the room.

Speak of the devil, Kei thought in amusement as she watched the small girl pick another fight with Kakashi. She had a feeling if given time, the girl would get along very well with Obito. Reluctant goodbyes aside, Minato eventually managed to herd the group to leave the village and head back towards Konoha. With the seals on her person, Kei was unable to utilize chakra to run across treetops like the rest of the group.

Grudgingly, she resigned to her fate to being carried much like her fellow jinchuriki. Not one to remain idle, Kei kept her senses on alert and observed whatever came their way. If not, she might not noticed the subtle shaking coming from the little redhead in Tesuri's arms. Contrary to how to how confident and loud the girl carried herself, she was not unaffected by their ordeal.

"How are you holding up?" asked Minato casually.

"I'd feel much better if I had access to my chakra," admitted Kei as she turned her attention to him.

"Sorry," apologized the blond man. "If only we were in better circumstances. I'll make sure to look into fixing the seal issue once we get back to Konoha."

"Hmm," hummed Kei in agreement, her gaze drifted to Kakashi's back.

With so many changed events, it seemed like her silver-haired teammate likely got the best deal out of them all. She wondered how different he'll become without those defining tragedies in his life. As if sensing her eyes on him, Kakashi glanced back. However, before his gaze could reach Kei, a scowl crossed his face

Curious to what could've caused such a reaction, Kei followed his line of sight and found Kasa discreetly flipping the bird at him. Seem like the little redhead decided antagonizing Kakashi was a far better coping mechanism than sobbing silently. At least the trip back to Konoha wouldn't be as boring as Kei expected.

* * *

With Minato leading the group, the gate patrols didn't hassle them regarding entry despite the Mon father and child duo. Though, Kei suspected Natsumi might had a hand in the matter. Kei vaguely recalled the conversation Jiraiya had with Minato prior to her kidnap. Didn't the Nara woman commission the sannin to search for other surviving Uzumakis?

"So…this is Konoha?" started Kasa, wide-eyed and awed as she glanced about trying to take everything in as they made their way towards the administration building.

"Kasa, don't run off," chided Tesuri as he kept a firm hold on the girl's wrist to prevent her from going off on her own.

Kei half expected the girl to protest and throw a tantrum, but to her surprise the little redhead fell silent by her father's side instead. Maybe the Uzumaki brashness won't be as bad with this girl as it is with her fellow kinsmen.

"Hmm… so you can follow directions," mused Kakashi off-handedly.

"Bite me, camp supply!" retorted the girl with a growl.

"Pft, camp supply?" laughed Obito.

"Kasa!" snapped Tesuri before the girl turned away with a huff.

"Now, now," mediated Minato sheepishly.

 _So much for not inheriting the Uzumaki brashness…_ Kei rolled her eyes in exasperation, but a faint grin tugged at her lips.  _At least that makes her predictable._

Under Minato's watch, the bickering between the small Uzumaki child and their silver-haired teammate was kept to a minimum. Though, Obito had grown fond of the little red-head due to their mutual antagonism towards Kakashi. By the time they've reached the administrative building, Kasa was riding on the Uchiha's shoulder, the two joking and laughing merrily at Kakashi's expense, while the other glared at them for their idiocy.

"Team Minato, reporting for debriefing," stated Minato the moment the group manage to get a private audience with Hiruzen.

"Welcome back," nodded their elderly leader. "Jiraiya informed me of the swap in missions, I trust everything went well?"

"Not quite sir," informed Minato. "Due to certain circumstances, Keisuke Gekko and this child here, Kasa Mon are currently jinchurikis for the Three-Tails."

"Both of them?" said Hiruzen in surprise. "Explain."

_**SLAM!** _

"Tesuri! Kasa!" shouted a frantic Somoku as the door crashed open.

"Mommy!" gasped Kasa in delight as she slipped from Tesuri's side and dashed into her mother's arms.

"Somoku, you can't just run off like that!" said Jiraiya in exasperation as he trailed after the woman not moments later.

Kei half wondered why anbu didn't do anything to stop the woman, but then she caught sight of Natsumi strolling in with Kushina in tow. She shared a brief nod-greet with the anbu general before turning her attention back to the tearful reunion.

"Kasa, your chakra…" paused Somoku as she pulled her daughter back for a more scrutinizing gaze, her hand trailed to the small girl's stomach before her gaze snapped to Kei. "Your secondary chakra is the same as my daughter's. Tell me who did this! I will eviscerate them!"

"Calm down Somoku," soothed Kushina as she made her way to ease the older Uzumaki woman. "I'm sure they're all tired, why don't we get you and your family settled first? I'm sure your daughter and husband could use it after what they're been through."

"Hokage-sama, if I may be so impertinent maybe it's best to let Somoku's family a moment to reunite with one other," suggested Natsumi while Somoku look torn between Kushina's suggestion and her desire for revenge. "Why not let Kushina show them around while Minato's team finish their debriefing? The reprieve may benefit everyone."

"Very well," noted Hiruzen before nodding to Kushina.

"Hello, Kasa-chan right?" said Kushina softly as she knelt down to the little redhead's level. "You're probably hungry after all that traveling, why don't we go get something to eat with your mommy and daddy?"

"Hmm…" hummed the girl uncertainly as she glanced to her parents before back to Kushina. "You look like mommy! You're pretty!"

"Oh," said Kushina, taken aback by the sudden compliment before happily enveloping the small girl in her arms. "Aren't you a precious little sweetie pie! I am sooo taking you shopping after lunch! Come on Somoku!"

"Kushina, what are you—" yelped Somoku as the younger woman hook an arm around hers and hauled her off out of the office with Kasa still in her arms. Baffled, Tesuri could only trail after the woman kidnapping his wife and child.

"Well… Kushina sure has a way with people," murmured Obito awkwardly as the door closed behind them.

"Why don't we get back to the matter at hand?" suggested Minato with a sheepish laugh.

"Allow me sensei," interrupted Kei. If things continued the way it's going, the debriefing might last hours.

From when she woke up to how she got away with her fellow jinchuriki in tow, Kei extrapolated as much as she could without revealing suspicions she intend to discuss with Natsumi at a later date. With the addition of new unknown players and the canon derailment, Kei had to be careful with what information she shared. Loyalty to the village or not.

"Two more jinchurikis," muttered Natsumi under her breath as Kei finished her report. "How are their seals?"

"I've already looked into Kei's seal prior to returning to the village," continued Minato. "She manage to break the coercion seals on her lonesome and Tesuri has placed a temporary chakra block overlay to her system to keep the seal from breaking. I'd like senpai and sensei to take a look to adjust her seals later."

"The sooner the better please," murmured Kei. "I dislike not being able to access my chakra."

"And the little girl?" asked Jiraiya, his back against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Her father saw to her as well as Kei, but he was rather overprotective. I didn't want to risk conflict before we made it back to Konoha. I'm sure Kushina might be able to convince her parents to let us take a look," reasoned Minato.

"That is if the girl's mother doesn't get to it first," noted Natsumi.

"What do you mean, Natsu-nee?" asked Kakashi.

"Somoku Uzumaki is a seal mistress and the late Uzumaki Clan's archivist. If there's any issue with the seals on her daughter, she'll likely attend to it without us asking," explained Natsumi. "We do better to find a means to recruit her for the village. If only to keep other villages from obtaining her fuinjutsu capabilities."

Kei remained silent during the exchange. Seal mistress and archivist? That was quite a resume for an unknown Uzumaki. Idly, she hazard the thought the woman was like her and Natsumi, another other-worlder. However, when she met with the gaze of the Nara matriarch, the woman gave a slight shake of her head to disperse her suspicion.

 _Not one of us…_  Kei thought, despondent and disappointed.

She should really start listening to her own advice on not having such high hopes in finding more other-worlders like them. The odds of her and Natsumi both existing was already rare enough. Even so, she can't help but wonder about the changes to come. Obito was safe, Kakashi still had both eyes and it seems like the Uzumaki Clan might face a revival if Natsumi's search continues to bear fruit with more missing Uzumakis.

The uncertainty of the future felt frightful, but at the same time there was a sense of hope Kei hadn't realized she was missing until now. Things are better than before and hopefully will continue to do so in the coming years.


End file.
